Steps 18362

Kilometres 13.9

Tiredness is beginning to envelope them all. Day 3 and 4 is where a lot of the social learning is done - tempers are fraying (often from the most unusual sources) and moods are changing quickly.

The children are always given structures and scaffolds to resolve their own issues and so far they have been mature, respectful and considerate of each other when doing this. On that level I've been impressed.

We started the day making sandwiches - Orwell were magnificent when asked to tidy the kitchen area - well done.

Breakfast was scoffed - Tommy smashed his own record. 8 weetabix and a fry-up. If I hadn't seen it I wouldn't have believed it.

Preceding our first session, we checked our traps again and... success. We snared a yellow- necked mouse - such a beautiful creature.

After a timetable shuffle we embarked on our walk to Dedham. These 2.5 hours accounted for half of our steps yesterday and the moaning eminating from your small people was amusing. Once they realised that we had to come back, it increased. 😅😅😅😅😅

In Dedham, we saw an original Constable, had lunch (where 2 loose dogs bounded towards us), saw the school he went to and questioned the public on various issues so we had data to use back in class.

On lunch, no one has made a 'silly' sandwich yet. They value their sustenance too much I think.

Afterwards we met up with Charlie again and learnt about sustainability. The children were great. Gracie, Clementine and Tommy excelled themselves with great answers to difficult questions.

After dinner (fish fingers and new potatoes (unbelievably 4 children refused to eat the potatoes because they had their skin on!))

I took interested parties to the field for a game of football - made better because they all had their wellies on. 😅

We then had a campfire. We sang, danced and told tales. I told 2 'scary' stories. They did the job beautifully. One contained a jump scare and worked a treat - a few spilt there 'tepid' chocolate drink.

In the evening, back at the cottage, the bonding really commenced. Post - campfire always does this.

As of now the children have been great. There have been a few tears of course, but mostly laughs and giggles.

Today we have river-based shenanigans to amuse myself. Someone will get wet -they always do 😅😅😅😅

Mr Sandford and Miss Evans