Senior Camp: Enjoying the Beauty of Nature

This year’s Senior Camp was filled with activity, friendship, and plenty of time spent outdoors in the natural beauty of South Wales’s Gower Peninsula with its stunning beaches, as well as the peaks and waterfalls of Brecon Beacons. 

The campers experienced the good fortune of ideal weather, and there was never a dull moment, with days that were filled with archery, rock climbing, hiking, games on the beach, surfing, and walking among the beaches, gorges and waterfalls. The Year 9s and Year 10s completed their DofE hexpeditions, a challenging feat whose reward was a simple but very real sense of achievement. Evenings were spent enjoying the fantastic evening meals prepared by Mr Campbell and team, along with a campfire on the last evening before the pupils started getting settled in their tents. On the drive home, the group stopped to tour the underground mines at The Big Pit National Coal Mining Museum, providing one more stimulating experience before the campers returned home, tired and happy.

We are so grateful for the efforts of Mr Appleyard, Mrs Atkinson, Mr Bayley, Mr Bell, Mr Burden, Mr Campbell, Mr Fletcher, Mr Hulett, Mrs Lowe, Miss Pearce-Higgins, Mr Nicholson, Mr Pitcher, Mr Scott, and Mr Tunnicliffe to create such a memorable experience.

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Before the May half-term break, pupils in Years 7-10 spent a week in South Wales’s Gower Peninsula with its stunning beaches, as well as the peaks and waterfalls of Brecon Beacons.

Recent Enrichment Trips

Our pupils have been getting out of the classroom–both within Cambridge and without–during their Enrichment sessions this half-term. Take a look at our galleries below to see our pupils visiting the Botanic Garden, Imperial War Museum in Duxford, the Zoology Museum, Shepreth Wildlife Park, the Natural History Museum in London, the American Cemetery, Flatford Mill, and more!

Year 8 at the Museum of Zoology

Heritage Year 8 pupils visit the University of Cambridge Museum of Zoology

Upper Prep at Shepreth Wildlife Park

Heritage Upper Prep pupils visited the Shepreth Wildlife Park

Year 8 at the American Cemetery

Upper Prep at the Saffron Walden Museum

Heritage Upper Prep pupils enjoyed a visit to the Saffron Walden Museum

Forest School This Term

As part of our priority to get pupils outdoors, we offer regular Forest School sessions in rotation to classes in Upper Prep through Year 8. Through these experiences, we want our children to relish the unique delight that is available through time in nature, in addition to building their confidence with a new set of skills and a growing a sense of responsibility for the great outdoors.

During this half-term, Year 2 and Year 7 pupils have been enjoying time in Clare Wood during their weekly sessions. Year 2 have been learning to whittle, practising wilderness cooking, creating natural arts and crafts, playing woodland games and more. Year 7 have practiced all of the steps in fire lighting including laying, lighting, striking and safe extinguishing. They have learned to cook rudimentary ‘what veg do I have?’ soup, tasted nettle crisps and dandelion cookies, and learned about which plants in the woodland are good for us and which may contain toxins best avoided. They have constructed water filters to purify the water from the stream and learned about filtration and the purifying properties of charcoal. They have also mapped the woods, laid trails and followed each others’ pathways to solve quizzes, find new destinations and experience the journey. 

We hope this time in the forest will stay with our pupils long after their time with us, teaching them that nature offers a sense of satisfaction, refreshment and enjoyment that can only be found by stepping outside.

Year 2 Forest School Gallery

Heritage Y2 pupils are enjoying Forest School

Year 7 Woodland Learning Gallery

Heritage Year 7 pupils enjoy time outdoors during Woodland Learning
Featured Image for Year 5 performance of 'Alice the Musical'

Year 5 Present ‘Alice the Musical’

Earlier this week, families gathered in Panton Hall to watch Year 5 perform Alice the Musical, a delightful production based on Lewis Carroll’s familiar classic Alice In Wonderland. The performance was a true crowd pleaser, with whimsical song and dance numbers and a set that helped bring the captivating absurdity of Wonderland to life. But best of all were the outstanding performances by the pupils portraying all of the story’s weird and wonderful characters, from the Cheshire Cat to the Mad Hatter to the Queen of Hearts. Well done to Mrs Watkins and the class for all of their hard work, and thanks to Mrs Zurcher for her musical support, Mrs Robertson for artwork and prop design, Miss Pearce-Higgins for managing the lighting and Mr Campbell for setup of the stage and lights.

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Year 5 pupils perform in 'Alice the Musical'.

Examining Science and Faith During Senior Assembly

This week, Seniors thought about the relationship between science and faith during an assembly talk with Steph Bryant of The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, a Cambridge-based research group focussed on the understanding of religious beliefs in relation to the sciences.

Ms Bryant, who studied the Natural Sciences at Cambridge University, guided the pupils through a frothy chemistry experiment to illustrate the idea that science is primarily about observation, testing, and measurement. It can help us understand the world around us by explaining how things work; but we need to look elsewhere when we want to explore questions about meaning, purpose, and the ‘why’ of things. Religion, by comparison, is meant to examine questions like ‘Does life have a purpose?’ or ‘Why is there a universe?’ Because science is unable to fully answer these questions, she explained, having a broader perspective that considers many different fields of inquiry—including religion, morality and ethics, history, and aesthetics—can give us a richer and fuller understanding of the world. 

She encouraged the young people to be open to many different fields of study that they will encounter at school, which will all feed into the bigger questions about life and where they fit into that bigger picture. 

Many thanks to Ms Bryant and the Faraday Institute for an inspiring and thought-provoking assembly.