Outdoor Enrichment

Throughout the academic year we are going to ensure that each year group in school has the opportunity to go on outdoor enrichment experiences. Children living in Cumbria should have the opportunity to learn about the natural environment they live in. We believe that it is important that we take advantage of the stunningly beautiful and naturally diverse county of which Wreay is a part.

Dodd Wood

Year 1 and year 2 both spent the afternoon at Dodd Wood near Bassenthwaite. The focus of the day was very much upon the animal and plant life to be found whilst on the walk. Unfortunately we didn’t see any red squirrels though!

Year 6 pupils also went to Dodd Wood for their trip, however the walk was a little more physically demanding and the focus of the day was more upon the role of National Parks and other organisations in Lake District land ownership. It was a beautiful yet frosty December afternoon and the children did extremely well to walk the 2.5 mile circular route they did in a relatively short time, especially as we ascended 330m!

Castlerigg Stone Circle

The Year 4 and 5 class went on their trip to Castlerigg Stone Circle near Keswick. We considered how the land around us may have been altered by humans, considered the importance of Herdwick sheep and did some fell spotting. This location was also chosen because the class had been studying the site as part of geographical map work, and in history as it linked well with their neolithic settlement topic. We took a linear route, through some rather muddy tracks, from the A591 where the bus dropped us off, to the stone circle itself where we were picked up.

Eden Rock and Talkin Tarn

Years 2 and 3 went on a joint all day trip which took in two separate locations. During the morning we went to Eden Rock climbing wall in Carlisle. The children were split into groups and worked 1:7 with one of the excellent Eden Rock climbing instructors to learn some climbing techniques and experience some different aspects of climbing. The children had a brilliant time! We had lunch at the climbing wall and then took the bus to Talkin Tarn near Brampton. We got all the way round the tarn and enjoyed a really nice walk, during which we spent some time bird spotting and making dens in the wood.

Future plans…….

All the staff look forward to planning outdoor enrichment experiences each academic year. If anybody would like to speak to staff about the enrichment trips that we have already been on, our plans for future trips, or if you have any ideas about places we could visit then, we would be delighted to talk to you.