Trewern Outdoor Education Centre

Last week we welcomed the Year 6 class from Holy Family Catholic Primary School Benfleet to Trewern. The school had not been to Trewern before but their Headteacher has been a regular visitor with schools he has worked at in the past. They were very excited when we met them in the car park as they arrived on their first day. After a quick trip in the minibuses up to the centre, they were soon settling into their bedrooms and unpacking.

After dinner on the first evening the whole group went out into the grounds of Trewern to do some orienteering. In the dark, this proved a new experience for the pupils, working together in small teams of three with a torch and a map. They quickly demonstrated that they had some good basic team work skills and these would prove to come in handy for the rest of their week.

The first full day of activities was a huge hit with pupils and staff. Group 1 worked hard to keep each other safe in our indoor climbing wall and learned some basic survival techniques during their bushcraft session. They were really good at helping each other and even encouraged other group members to step outside their comfort zone on the climbing wall. Group 2 went canoeing and although it was a new activity for everyone in the group some of the pupils took to it well and had really good technique. They had to work hard against the wind and pulled together as a team to help load the boats onto the trailer at the end of the day. Group 3 spent the morning doing some bushcraft and managed to light a fire even in the damp and rainy conditions. In the afternoon they all encouraged each other to climb to the top of the climbing wall and worked well together keeping everyone safe. The evening was spent doing a variety of team building and problem solving activities including cross the swap and gutter ball. The teachers particularly enjoyed these activities.

The second day saw an improvement in the weather and even a bit of sunshine. Group 1 went gorge walking and experienced some very cold waterfalls. Group 2 had a morning climbing and then the afternoon in the bushcraft area. Group 3 went canoeing for the day. All the groups worked to push themselves out of their comfort zone and there were some pupils who got really wet in the gorge walking and canoeing sessions. Group 2 all showed good perseverance to get the flint and steel to light small fires. The evening was spent visiting the tuck shop and enjoying playing in the grounds of Trewern.

The final day of activities and the pupils were challenged to maintain their concentration especially when listening to instructions. All groups rose to the challenge despite being tired as it was coming towards the end of the week. Group 1 spent the day canoeing and even got to jump in the canal at the end of the day. Group 2 and Group 3 both went gorge walking. They really enjoyed being in, under and sliding down the waterfalls. All groups had come along way in their teamwork and supported each other well. After a bit of packing the evening finished with some time on the low ropes course.

On Friday morning before heading home the pupils were looking forward to seeing their families but said they would have stayed longer if they could. Gorge walking and bushcraft seemed to have been many pupils favorite activities. The staff also had a brilliant week and commented that they had thoroughly enjoyed all the activities.

We hope to welcome The Holy Family Catholic Primary School back next year. Thank you to the staff and pupils for a great week.

Well…first blog of the new website…and we wanted to write a quick roundup of what’s happened at the Centre since the New Year. Not the Coronavirus, more on that in due course.

Firstly, a whole lot of work on the centre and grounds: the boys’ dormitories have been painted, new front door, new door to the dining room, some of the ceilings have been redone, gates at the entrances and a new low ropes course. We’ve got some pics of the work in progress, but haven’t yet got around to taking photos of how it looks now. That’ll just have to wait until we get back in. We’ve also started work on clearing our classroom, which should be knocked down and replaced this summer. That does mean we’ve had to move the Tuck Shop, back to where it used to live many moons ago in what has been the waterproof store (waterproofs now in the Canoe Store).

More importantly we’ve had the slow build that is the start to the season. Actually, it wasn’t that slow: Roding was our second group, and they brought 60-something! So…we’ve had Roding Primary, two groups from Jo Richardson Community School (Geography and PE GCSE groups), Eastbury Community Secondary back for the first time in many years, James Cambell and Thomas Arnold staying with us at the centre. We’ve had snowy mountain days, extremely wet gorge walking days, really varied caving days, as well as some very serious fieldwork and climbing days for GCSE courses. We’ve also taken the opportunity to visit our friendly farmer Glasnant and his family to see how lambing has been going this year. There has been great resilience on show, either battling the weather, which has thrown everything but the kitchen sink at us, or keeping going in troubling times – well done everyone.

On a more official note, we also had a long-expected visit from the Environmental Health Officer on our routine check, and we passed with flying colours: 5 stars again! Thanks Ben and Jen for doing such a great job in the kitchen.

The teaching staff have also been working hard to keep their skills up to date with some CPD. Jenny did her Local Cave and Mine Leader Award training for level 1 just before Christmas, so there have been a few caving trips in some of the venues we can’t really use with groups, including one of the biggest systems in the country, Ogof Draennen. They’ve also done White Water Safety and Rescue training in the freezing wintry white water of the River Teifi at Llandsysul and the River Usk between Aberbran and Brecon –the things they do to keep everyone safe!