Carr Hill High School students have had a busy start to the year especially when it comes to residential trips. At the beginning of the term year 7 pupils experienced their first trip to Hothersall Lodge. Since then GCSE PE students have been to a residential education centre in Skipton, Yorkshire, whilst year 10 and 11 students have also been to Hothersall Lodge based in the Ribble Valley.
GCSE pupils travelled to Skipton to gain scores for their PE Practical grade. Students were given the opportunity to complete tasks and challenges in sports including mountain biking, orienteering and climbing. The trip is in its fifth year and continues to prove popular with over 40 students attending this year.
The weekend is held at the High Adventure Outdoor Education Centre and pupils stay in dorm rooms. In the evenings students take part in team building activities including Blind Line which requires one student to guide another blindfolded student around an obstacle course.
Year 10 pupil Tim decided to take the trip as the activities gave him the chance to try a wider range of sports. Tim picked climbing and mountain biking gaining a perfect score of 10 out of 10 in each sport. Tim said: “I’m pleased with my scores as they will go towards my final GCSE grade. I do both climbing and mountain biking outside of school so it was nice to have the chance to enjoy those activities with friends from school too.”
Fellow year 10 Fraser, celebrated his birthday whilst at Skipton. He enjoyed a cake, organised in staff after spending the day working hard to achieve high scores in both orienteering and climbing. He said: “I have not tried orienteering before but it came to me naturally. I also enjoyed archery and abseiling. The trip was definitely worthwhile and I would recommend it to other students.”
PE Teacher Mr Grady was one of the staff members to attend the Skipton trip. He said: “This trip has been a part of the PE curriculum for a number of years. It is always well attended as students want to try different sports and outdoor activities. Many pupils find that they have a natural ability for the activities on offer at Skipton and end up with higher scores from these activities than sports such as rugby and netball. It is really about catering for all of our students and enabling them to have as many options as possible when it comes to working towards their GCSE.”
Whilst the Skipton trip was just for GCSE students, the recent Hothersall Lodge trips have been open to all students in year 10 and 11 and aim to expand students’ horizons by giving them the opportunity to try new sports and outdoor activities that would not be available at school or within the local area. The year 11 trip also focused on preparing students for higher education. There were talks by University Admissions Tutors from Cambridge and Liverpool University as well as study skills workshops focusing on employability skills.
Year 11 students Abigail and Amy both decided to go on the Hothersall Lodge trip. Amy said: “I chose to go on the trip as I wanted to hear from the University representatives. I found the talks useful as the speakers gave advice such as selecting the correct A Levels for your degree course.”
Abigail was equally impressed with the talks and study skills workshop but also enjoyed the activities. She said: “It was good fun to spend time with friends but doing things we would never do at home like canoeing and climbing.”
Assistant Head Mr Napier was one of the staff to attend the Hothersall Lodge trip. He said: “We regularly take pupils to Hothersall Lodge as it offers our students the opportunity to meet new people, learn different skills and try a range of diverse activities. In the upper years our pupils also benefit from meeting representatives from higher education institutions and learning more about the options available to them over the coming years which they find very beneficial.”
Details of trips will be communicated via the school website and school staff.
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From Archery to Orienteering! Carr Hill students enjoy a host of outdoor activities during residenti
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