Out of 43 schools entering, only three others achieved this accolade.  Unicorn scored an incredible 489 points out of 500 for design, content
and usability.

We came first in all four relays, first in three ball throws; Ultra Violet also won the long jump. Well done to all who took part!

Unicorn athletes from Indigo and Violet Classes produced fantastic performances in the Barn Elms Athletics Championships. Zak (I), Sarah (I), Jamie (V), Jack M (V), and Jack K (V) all won events; Jamie broke the tournament record with 1:54 in the 600m while Jack K broke the tournament record in the Boys Ball Throw (41.20 m). For the first time, every team finished in the top three; the Year 4 Girls came second, the Year 4 Boys came third, the Year 5 Girls came third and the Year 5 Boys finished first and brought home another trophy for the Unicorn cabinet. In the overall championship (all age groups combined) Unicorn finished second. All 17 Unicorn athletes contributed with important points in their individual events and can be really proud of their achievements!

 See the team photo here

Monday
After a good journey, the children enjoyed a hearty meal and a good night's sleep.  Today, blue skies beckon and they are off to Hill Top Farm to learn all about the work of Beatrix Potter.  All are happy and well and enjoying all that the Lake District has to offer.

Tuesday
A very active day with the children having great fun at the low ropes course in Grizdale Forest.  They all enjoyed a lovely lake walk followed by lunch and ice-cream.  This afternoon should be slightly more sedate with a trip to the aquarium.  All are happy and well and there's not a cloud in the sky!

Wednesday
The children have had a fantastic morning ghyll scrambling; soaking and freezing but happy!  Looking forward to an afternoon of orienteering.  Still no rain!

Thursday
Change of plan today.  Sea-level traversing instead of climbing.  Rock-scrampling, caves and quick sand! raft building this afternoon.  Still no rain!

Tuesday 27 April 2010

Saturday
All arrived safely and have enjoyed making beds and settling into their new home for the week.  They spent the late afternoon playing games in the field followed by a delicious dinner of spaghetti carbonara and walk to Harlyn Bay to play more games on the beach before collapsing into bed and falling asleep!

Sunday
After a great night's sleep, the children had fun beach combing on Polzeath beach.  A hermit crab, several bits of seaweed and many mussels later they headed to Bodmin Moor to climb to the summit of Roughtor. A hearty dinner, followed by DVDs and an early night in preparation for a day of rock climbing.  (Postcards sent today, so they should arrive before Friday!)

Monday
Today was spent at Haldren Cove rock climbing. There were 4 climbs varying in difficulty and everyone had a go.  This was followed by lunch on the rocks, and a visit to The Geevor Tin mines. The children were taught how to pan for gold, and were taken down into one of the oldest mines. On their return to The Manor House, all were thrilled to find Josh who had finally made his way through the volcanic ash from Singapore to join his classmates!

Tuesday
Today they have woken to beautiful blue skies and are looking forward to a day of surfing.  All the children are really happy and can't believe that they are halfway through the trip already! 

Wednesday
Yesterday morning was spent at Harlyn Bay, where, as a result of low surf they opted for life guard training rather than surfing. All the children braved the cold waters in a bid to rescue their instructor victims!  Yesterday afternoon they did a 9 mile coastal walk from Harlyn to Padstow which was such fun that they then decided to carry on and walk all the home to The Manor House!  On their return they were greeted with a delicious pizza dinner before watching a DVD and resting their weary feet! 

The glorious weather continues and all are sporting beautiful tanned faces!

Thursday
Yesterday was spent in St Ives where they visited the Tate and the Barbara Hepworth museum.  This was followed by lunch on the beach (only one lunch was lost to a seagull).  The children spent the afternoon water colour painting and shopping for Cornish fudge!  After a delicious chicken curry they all went crab fishing, although lots were caught, none of them made it back up to the dock as they kept jumping off the line! 

Friday
A great morning of kayaking in Falmouth, and despite the rain, the brave continued to capsize on purpose!  They spent the afternoon orienteering in Idless Wood which proved to be more of a challenge than first anticipated as they kept losing North!

All the children have behaved impeccably and have had a great week; but they are all really looking forward to seeing you all at approximately 2:30 this afternoon.

Please click here to see the photographs

Click here for photographs

This week the children have taken part in lots of mind bending challenges, they have been inspired by fantastic story telling and have taken part in a range of fun and engaging scientific and mathematical investigations.  During these workshops they have been encourage to ‘think outside of the box’ and have lots of fun!

Thank you to everybody who made Arts Week such a great success;

To all our guests:
• Sarah Hodgson from Mind Lab
• John Harris The Story Teller
• Kirsty McLeod-Jones from Perform 4 Schools for her ‘Thinking about Science’ Workshops
• Will Woods from The Problem Solving Company
• Deidre Smith for the Shell Science Workshop 
• Our wonder parent partners in the Mind Lab workshop
… and finally
• To our fantastic teachers who spent their break times playing thinking games with the children

Click here to see the photographs of what we have been up to this week!