Day 1

Although there were a few nervous students in school before we set off for Tiribad today by the time we were sat ready on the coach for the off, everyone was looking forward to the trip.

Everyone was brilliant on the 5 hour trip and both adults and students serenaded the driver with many varied songs - students chose their favourites. (It was only towards the end of the journey the driver told us he was deaf in one ear!!!!)

Once we had arrived at Tirabad we were shown to our bedrooms - once bags were stowed we all went off for a walk.  What beautiful scenery - and how interesting Luke made the walk by finding numerous treasures along the way.  

The students have been given groups so jobs can be allocated - and the serving staff for tonights meal were of a very high calibre!!  When the other groups have their chance at this job they have got a high standard to keep up. I have never seen so many go up for seconds of both main meal and dessert.

Other students have been given the job of washing and drying up and a good conveyor belt of workers have done a great job.

Once the jobs are complete we will all have some well deserved free time in the games room. Kaylie has already challenged Mr Gregory to a game of table football.   Result to follow tomorrow.

All staff have been really impressed with how well the students are working together, helping and supporting each other.   

Later on in the evening we will look at the activities for tomorrow and the students are already excitedly talking about what they might be doing…….they all seem to be looking forward to what tomorrow brings.

 

Quotes from Students

 

Cameron: “I have enjoyed spending time with friends”

Seb : “I like helping with the washing up -the metal tray made a lovely sound”

Oliver: Fab-u-lous!

Kelton: “The best bit has been serving the food - and the pudding!”

Will:  “I have enjoyed washing up with my friends and talking to them”

Zara: “The best bit has been serving the food to everyone and washing up”

 

Day 2

 

What a start today to the day……more singing over breakfast to celebrate Lottie’s 16th birthday.   The singing bug must be due to the Welsh air!!!!

 

Group 1 - Edward, Oliver, Jude, Zara, Daniel, Zach, Cameron & Will

Teacher: Mr Moore

Mountain Walk

Oh the Grand Old Duke of York (well Mr Moore anyway)

He had 10,000 men (well only 8 students)

He marched them up to the top of the hill (it was actually technically a mountain - the highest one in the Brecon Beacons!)

And he marched them down again

And when they were up they were up

And when they were down they were down

And when they were only half way up they were neither up nor down.

 

Quotes from Mountain walk

Cameron: I walked 25000 steps and I enjoyed the walk.

 

Group 2 - Seb, Annabelle, Beth, Ryan, Lottie, Eloise & Ross

Teacher: Holly

Climbing

After the group collected their helmets and harnesses it was a quick 1 hour drive to nearby mountain to begin our activity. 

Once the safety talk was over the instructors Chris and Tom, demonstrated how to abseil down the side of the cliff. Students were then encouraged to have a go. Eloise was first up. She managed to make it down to the bottom but decided that once was enough for her. Next up was Beth after a false start she worked up the courage to face her fear and abseil down the side. Ross and Lottie were fearless and made it seem easy. Annabelle cheered on everyone before having a go herself, everyone returned her encouragement and cheered her on. Seb was the quickest, he was almost as good as the instructors.  Ryan decided not to abseil as he was having too much fun climbing. After some not so subtle persuasion from the students I had a go which made me realise how brave they were as we were really high up.  

After we had finished we packed up the equipment and headed back to the centre to meet up with the other groups

 

Quotes from the climbing group

Ross: Climbing the wall was exciting

Eloise: Abseiling was fun I’m glad I did it

 

Group 3 - Grace, Luke, Kelton, Kaylie, Irish, Megan, Reece and Connor

Teachers: Mr Gregory, Mrs Kennedy & Mia

Canoeing

The canoeing group collected all their equipment - waterproofs - helmet - flotation aids and wellington boots before we set off on the mini bus.  It made Mrs K’s day when the XL helmet was a ‘little snug’ on Mr Gregorys head.!!!! (see photo below).

The starting point was a beautiful river in Breacon with ducks, swans and house boats where all the students bravely got into their canoes for, in some cases, their first time in a canoe.

It was so impressive to watch them all paddling off up the river and learning to turn the boats around - and all without anyone falling in the water.  As I say impressive!!!

The sun came out for the afternoon session where the canoes were able to paddle further up the river  where games of canoe football took place.  Who won???   There were various versions of who did…..  Then just before we left there was a session of jumping into the river for any students who wanted.  The brave souls were. - Reece - Irisha - Grace, but they were cheered on by the rest of us.  

A really good day - what will tomorrow bring!!!

 

Quote from the canoeing group:

Reece. -  “As it was my 2nd time I had even more of a challenge in that I was in 2 canoes roped together - but I really enjoyed”.

Megan. - Enjoyed it when Mr Gregory struggled with the helmet he wore that left red marks on his forehead…..well enjoyed Mrs K laughing at it!

 

Back at the house we all had a lovely meal and a nice slice of chocolate cake to celebrate Lottie’s birthday before finally going to bed.

 

Day 3

The students were still tired this morning from all the fun activities they did on their first full day. The cereal and toast for breakfast perked everyone up. Chris (one of the instructors) told the groups what they would be doing for the day and what everyone would need to wear. After the lunches were made everyone set about getting ready for the day.

 

Group 1 - Edward, Oliver, Jude, Zara, Daniel, Zach, Cameron & Will

Teacher: Mr Moore

Canoeing 

 

Written By Oliver

Today  we did canoeing on the canal, it was  very fun we played some games and we were splashing and getting each other wet. Right at the end of it we were pushing each other in Mr Moore [wimp] was the only one who did not jump in. But there again he did have the ice cream money and the camera in the boat. 

 

Group 2 - Seb, Annabelle, Beth, Ryan, Lottie, Eloise & Ross

Teacher: Holly

Forest Walk and Crate Stack

Our group stayed close to home today

 

Written By Beth

Today  we went on a walk in the forest Ryan and ross in enjoyed splashing in the muddy. I got stuck in the mud and Holly wouldn’t let anyone help me until she got a photo of it. Annabelle eventually helped me out. There was lots of nice scenery to look at and we could hear a lot of birds but didn’t see any. When we got back to the centre we had lunch after lunch we did another activity……CRATE STACKING. Everyone had a go, we all worked well as a team and helped Ross get to 12 crates. Annabelle tried to get to 15 crates but the stack behind her caused her to fall. We all really enjoyed the day and are looking forward to doing canoeing tomorrow.

 

Group 3 - Grace, Luke, Kelton, Kaylie, Irish, Megan, Reece and Connor

Teachers: Mr Gregory, Mrs Kennedy & Mia

Climbing

 

By Meg 

Reece climbed up the wall 20 times and was really tired by the end of the day. Grace worked really hard as well. Everyone had a great time and we can’t wait for tomorrow.

 

Written By Reece

What a good day I have had as it was my second time climbing this time being at a different place not tooting  my own horn but climbing up that wall 20 times is really amazing. It makes you feel really tired and I am also ready for bed because tomorrow is our last full day of fun and adventures making more long lasting memories with all of our friends but the most sad thing is that this week has flown by which is such a sad thing but we all know these memories will last for a lifetime and what can I not say about the lovely views and scenery it makes for some lovely photos for my media work. I am gonna miss waking up to these beautiful views and playing games in the evenings with all my friends and we can’t forget the teachers.

 

Wednesday Evening

Tirabad’s Got Talent 

After dinner and washing up duties we all settled down for an evening of top notch entertainment.  We were very lucky to be joined by some celebrity judges; Simon ‘Kennedy’ Cowell, David Williams Moore, Amanda Gregory and Holly Dixon.  There was a wide range of acts from table tennis (Daniel, Kaylie and Jude) Singing and Dancing (Ross, Lottie, Eloise and Mr Kennedy) and comedy (Seb and Ollie). Each act was introduced by our fantastic host Cameron.

It was very close but in the end the judges awarded Ross, Eloise and Lottie’s YMCA as runners up.

Ollie as the winner with a very funny routine including ‘what’s brown and sticks to a wall?  Humpty Dump!’

 

Day 4

Group 1 - Edward, Oliver, Jude, Zara, Daniel, Zach, Cameron & Will

Teacher: Mr Moore

Climbing 

We spent a lovely day abseiling and climbing in a disused quarry.  All of group one were fantastic and worked as a team to support each other and tried their best throughout the activity.  We all agreed that Zara was the real star and was a very accomplished climber.

Quotes 

Edward ‘Mr Moore was really good, he is the best’

Jude ‘when I grow up I want to be just like Mr Moore, he is the greatest’

Oliver ‘Mr Moore is one of the funniest people I have met, he is definitely funnier than me’

Will ‘Mr Moore is a legend, he’s such a good climber’

Zara ‘Mr Moore was like a mountain goat, he went up the cliff face so quickly’

Zach ‘Mr Moore is very cool’

Cameron ‘It’s been a real pleasure having Mr Moore in my group this week, I feel very fortunate to have been able to spend so much time with him’

Dan ‘Mr Moore, Mr Moore, you’re alright you are’.

All quotes for this group were written by Mr Moore and may not reflect the views of the students!!!

Written by Cameron

I was not really looking forward to going climbing because I am not that great with hights 

And I was very worried about going but I went down the giant cliff the scariest part was getting off the edge then the rest of it was fine I was still scared but it was so much fun I enjoyed it a lot and we did a lot of climbing up the cliff it is very hard but we were good in groups working together.

 

Group 2 - Seb, Annabelle, Beth, Ryan, Lottie, Eloise & Ross

Teacher: Holly

Canoeing

We all had a great day at the canal. The water was only knee deep, Ryan was the first one to fall in followed quickly by Ross with a bit of help they managed to empty the water from their canoe and were soon back in with bigger smiles than before. It wasn’t long before they had tipped their canoe agin I think by the end of the day they had capsized 3 times but laughing the whole time. Eloise and Lottie Zig Zagged the whole way down, Beth and Annabelle found a good rhythm and were soon rowing like pros. Seb and I worked really well together, Seb’s favourite part of the day was when he got to splash the group with water. We ended the day with Wellies full of water and in desperate need of clean clothes.

Student Quote

Annabelle : This has been my best day so far we did canoeing Beth & I shared a canoe together  it was a great laugh  to start with we kept playing bumper cars and then we got the hang of it and Lottie & Eloise were tied to are canoe and we pulled then alone.

 

Group 3 - Grace, Luke, Kelton, Kaylie, Irish, Megan, Reece and Connor

Teachers: Mr Gregory, Mrs Kennedy & Mia

Vertical Challenge/Survival skills 

Written By Reece 

What a lovely day I have had I started off with a bit of archery I am so impressed with Mrs K she hit the target not once not twice But 3 times and one more honourable mention to Mia she hit the gold circle 1st time but then after lunch we changed to survival skills we started of by lighting a pice of cotton wall me Connor Me and Luke all lighting it on our first turns then we started a big fire which Connor lit in a few turns but we had a lovely time with a hot chocolate and a few biscuits then all the fun had to end because it was time to pack up. We then went upstairs to pack up all are clothes here is my quote of the day “all good things have to come to a end” and tonight we are having a massive disco but this year with out the fire sadly so its disco inferno but with out the inferno part one of my many highlights is mr Gregory trouble with the helmet my legs are still hurting from yesterday for climbing up that wall 20 times (future Spiderman) but tomorrow we have the dreaded 5 and half hour coach journey but that is gonna fly past cant wait to drive past of the lovely views and sights for my last time I wish this week could last a lifetime but it can’t So I have been cherishing every last minute and second of this trip can’t wait to go home and tell all my friends and family all about the great memories I have made and one more thing is always cherish all the time we have left at school because its gonna fly by

Here is one tip I Have learnt since being here  

You are gonna make memory’s that are not gonna last a week not a month not a year but a lifetime. 

Thoughts of the week from Mrs K and Mia

We are both very impressed how this group has grown and have supported each other over the many activities.  There have been so many highlights that it is hard to note them all but don’t think either will forget the efforts at rock climbing  - the canoeing - and all the brilliant conversations between students.  We have both loved the dancing in the common room - although not sure the students have enjoyed our dancing.   The music of the week for us has been ‘ sweet Caroline’ and the tune is still ringing in our heads!!!!  Daniel joining in and singing along with us has been absolutely brilliant.

Think we may go home a wee bit weary but its been good to see the students outside of school - and be able to be part of Tiribad.