Condover Hall 2018
Date: 25th Jun 2018 @ 10:00pm
What a fantastic day we've had! Arrived at Condover Hall today and got straight into our activities which were Archery and Dance Mania! All showered and ready for our first night at Condover.
Tuesday 26th June 2018
Good morning from Condover Hall. The boys and girls slept well, awaoke at 6am to the scorching heat and the stunningly beautiful day. Activities today include orienteering, wet and wacky in the pool, sensory trail and the camp fire at the end of the day. We'll update the blog and twitter account as often as possible so please take a look to keep up to date.
12:39
Children have done dance mania, orenteering and wet and wacky.
Caelan says...it was fun and made you sweaty
Finn says...best school trip ever and having lots of fun
Heath says...dance mania had a lot of fun dances
Elliot says...very hot but great fun
Jack says...wet and wacky was lots of fun
Billy says...orienteering was great and a bit of a challenge
Joe says...I expected the beds to be a bit lumpy but they are very comfortable
Alannah says...I rate it 5 stars
Imaiya says...the instructors are kind
Ingrid says...we beat the boys in wet and wacky!!!
Zara says....dance mania was great because we got to learn the dances to favourite songs
Mary says...'midnight' feast was ace!!
Felicity says...we're away from technology...fantastic!!
17:59
Morning and afternoon activities done, burger and chips consumed and now the moment they have all been waiting for...the most anticipated 30minutes of the residential so far...it's our turn for...THE SHOP!! Oh yes, if there has been one hot topic of debate since we arrived here it has been about 'The Shop.' So, in approximately 10 minutes from now, all 29 boys and girls will descend to the shop for a bit of retail therapy. They are so excited!
The retail therapy will be followed by a camp fire shared with Bollinbrook school [from Macclesfield] then back to their rooms, showers and bed.
The children have been exemplary in their behaviours and manners and we are so proud of all their efforts.
21:18
End of activities on day 2. The boys and girls have just come back from singing around the campfire whilst eating marshmallows. Their retail therapy went down well filling up on slushies and a few more sweets then off for a play in the maze areas. They're currently getting ready for bed and adding some notes to their diaries.
Wednesday 27th June 2018
0633 - the first chirpings of the year 5 and 6 boys and girls were heard as they awoke to another day of astonishing sunshine and fun-filled activities. At 0658 Heath was serenaded with a 'Happy Birthday' by his friends and we'll celebrate that a little later on today.
A much better nights sleep last night, all quiet at 2300 and awakenings began to happen, as I say, from 0633 precisely. Room inspection now followed by 0745 breakfast.
10:42
Quote of the day so far: Mary Ellis says...'I'm flying in the air and I can touch the sky' she said as she was dangling safely from 30ft!!
12:11
Morning activities done and now for another bit of retail therapy, followed by lunch then areial trek, wet and wacky, archery, initiative exercises and egg protector later on this evening. Still scorchio and boys and girls being very sensible wearing hats, splashing on the suncream, finding shade where they can and drinking lots and lots of water...as well as trying to soak each other with water!!
Heath, the birthday boy, says...'I can't wait for my birthday cake tonight with all my friends and it feels like this condover trip is my very own birthday party,' he said with a beaming smile.
15:20
My group have just finished an activity and they want to share their experience with you:
Ingrid...I feel invincible, I have just done ariel treck...it was amazing!!
Mary: I loved the feeling of hovering in mid air. It was my favourite activity so far. I wanted another go, so I did...I had 3 goes!!
James Woolley...it was a thrilling experience and very high!!
Jack: it was great fun.
Caelan: Tunnelling. Everything was awesome and dark.
Joe: Wet and wacky was reallly fun and full of activities and some free game time at the end.
Finn: Aerial Treck was scary at first but once you got used to it...it was fun
Lucy: Archery Tag was really good, lots of fun and very hot.
Felicity: I had the chance to try archery and I loved it.
Baking hot here and the children are coping magnificently well. What I really love about our children is that when 1 of their friends is struggling with an activity, especially heights, they encourage them to meet the challenge, support them and cheer them on.
17:35 - Hottest part of the day.
All afternoon activities done. Downtime now before dinner at 1835. Children doing their diaries/reflections and chiling out in their rooms. Aerial Treck has been the highlight of the day for the children so far.
Thursday 28th June 2018
0822 - breakfast done.
Mr Daley said: 'What are the waffles like?' Ingrid replied, 'It's like I'm eating Christmas.'
Anyway, 0720 early breakfast, room inspection then activities begin from 0845.On the menu today is raft building, canoeing, archery, initiative exercises and a mini-olympics to finish off at the end of the day and maybe, just maybe catch the last few minutes of England's game v Belgium (highly unlikely)!
10:44
Just finished canoeing with the whole group. It was splashtastic and incredibly good fun. Most got wet or soaked or drenched whilst learning real paddle skills on the lake. Short break now before more water based activities with raft building and kayaking. Breathtakingly beautiful weather again.
17:45
The hottest and stickiest day so far. Our last night awaits. Off to dinner shortly then mini-olympics then bed. Once again the children have done the school and parents proud.
1852
Dinner done. What the Year 6s say:
James: the lake was really fun, we got wet and capsized!!
Adam: Aerial Treck felt like you were flying
Frankie: liked raft building because we got to work together and Fraser the instructor wobbled our boat and we fell in!!
Alannah: I have really enjoyed this trip expecially working with Frankie and James in the canoe where we capsized.
Lucy: Really enjoyed initiative exercises because we got to try out activities that we would never have done before.
Austin: I have really loved the food this week it has been delicious.
7:00pm So, as most of the nation settles down to watch England v Belgium, we're off to do 2 hours of mini-olympics, then an hour to get showers done and fingers crossed all in bed, lights out by 11pm. 
20:56
And now, the end is near and so we face our final evening,
parents, we'll say it clear, we'll state our case with truthful meaning,
we've lived a condover life that's full and may I say...not in a quiet or shy way
Oh no, oh no St Greg's, we did it...our way.
And this is what they have to say...
Caelan...a week packed with fun but am glad to be going home.
Felicity...I don't want to go home but by the same token am looking forward to seeing my family and rabbits
Joe...I liked the archery tag, archery target shooting, abseiling, wet and wacky and surprisingly the canoeing
Mary...the week was amazing and nobody wants to go home, including me, sort of, in the middle a little bit!!!!
Jack...all the activities were great but the aerial track was the best.
James...am looking forward to going home but on the other hand want to stay here and do more activities, such as the trapeze jump
Imaiya...I really enjoyed wet and wacky because it was really fun and we got some free time at the end.
Ingrid...I am going to miss Condover Hall a lot because of the food, especially the pizza we had tonight.
Amy...Condover is amazing, the food is great, activities fun, my favourite being the aerial treck.
Ellie...I reallly enjoyed my time at Condover, my favourite activity was canoeing and the aerial treck.
And that's nearly all, folks!
Subject to any changes or traffic issues [M6 on a Friday isn't good], the following is intended for tomorrow:
0600ish...wake uptime, strip the bed, pack your bags, get dressed and head down to...
0750 breakfast of cereal, toast, juice, scambled egss, bacon, beans, yoghurt, fruit, tea, coffee then wobble to...
0900 final activity, for whole group, CONQUEST until 1030 then...
1035...collect packed lunches, gather suitcases and load up the coach to leave at APPROXIMATELY...
1200 (midday) with an ETA between 1430 and 1500 hours subject to traffic conditions. Texts will also be sent from the coach when we have a more precise ETA.
The final addition to this 2017-2018 blog will be written and uploaded tomorrow morning.
23:05...all children quiet and asleep.
Friday 29th June 2018
09:39
The children slept well last night and have been,overall, given that they are away from home and all the excitement that goes with a residential, impeccably behaved with great attitudes to the activities, respectful to the instructors and their environment and have been a pleasure to share this experience with.
And, if it wasn't for Mrs Wakeling and Mrs Tyldesley [at the 11th hour], this residential would not have taken place. Both Mrs Wakeling and Mrs Tyldesley deserve our gratitude. They have been with the children 24/7 in terms of supervision and making sure their welfare and well-being has been of paramount importance as a priority. As a result, the children have had a great time and when they have needed a trusted adult to call upon, both Mrs T and Mrs W have been available, patient, compassionate, caring and obliging.
And it leaves me to say how privileged we are to have such uniquely amazing children. They have been challenged in all kinds of different ways this week and all have risen to those differing challenges and achieved success, whether it be a physical, mental or social challenge.
We hope you have enjoyed the updates and a selection of the photos and, with hope in our hearts, we'll be home by 3pm today. Any changes in this schedule will be texted out to parents as early as we can.
And a quote to finish from Elliot Oldfield [to show how much he loves his family]:
"I'm not gonna go on Fortnite straight away; I'm gonna spend time with my family."
09:58...over and out!
Mr Daley
