Dear parents and other visitors,

We are in the process of migrating our blog to a new and exciting platform. Our new class blog, which incorporates the students own blogs, is hosted by Weebly and is at
year6atcharter.weebly.com

Please have a look at our posts and comment on the children's efforts so that they know they have an audience and are writing for a purpose.
We will no longer be using this site for our class blog but it will remain open as an archive.

Many thanks,
Mr Collett

Kanchanaburi trip - On our way home.

We're now on our way home from a very successful Year 6 residential. Everyone had a great time. I heard lots of comments like "This is the best trip ever!" and "I wish we could stay longer." 

Today we did our team building activities and everyone worked really well together. We had to cross water on a rope supported by our partner, scramble over an obstacle net, row a round paddle boat in teams, clamber through a 'spider's web' without touching the web, and find our way through the jungle maze. I think the children have learnt a lot this trip; a lot about themselves, about each other and how to be more responsible. (Ask your child about wet towels.)

The resort have been really great, providing great food, rooms and activities. If you'd like to plan a trip there yourself or see the resort go to www.riverkwaivillagehotel.com According to Google maps we should be at school by 2:45pm.

Here are some photos from today's team building activities:

Kanchanaburi trip - Train rides and talent shows

After our great lunch of som tam, gai yang, sticky rice and (of course) chicken nuggets, we caught the train from Sai Yok station to ride the tracks close to the original ones built in WW2. There was beautiful scenery along the way and parts where we could see the effort put in to shear through the rock.

On our return we played in the pool, spent some time readying the rooms for inspection and practiced for the talent show this evening. We've now had our steak dinner and the children are getting ready for the show.

Tomorrow morning we have our team building games and then, after a visit to Wai Chung War Cemetery, our return to school. Here are some photos from today:

Kanchanaburi trip - Hell Fire Pass

The children slept really well last night. Not a sound from them all night and many needed to be woken up for showers and breakfast at 7:00!

After a great breakfast we headed to Hell Fire Pass (only 15 minutes away) and the museum inspired a lot of discussion about the stories of the prisoners of war and locals forced to cut through the enormous amount of rock. The walk back up to the museum from the bottom of Hell Fire Pass to the museum was not easy but gave them a good appreciation of what the labourers, suffering from disease and malnutrition, must have gone through each day. 

We're back at the resort now about to have an Issarn lunch before taking the train into Kanchanaburi along the railroad built during World War 2.

Here are some photos from today so far:

Kanchanaburi trip - arrived!

What a busy day! The children are currently playing games with the very capable staff at River Kwai Village Resort while I watch and type this blog post.

The students are beginning to get a much better understanding of the human cost of World War 2 with our visit to the War Cemetery and the Thailand-Burma railway museum. The learning is always so much more valuable and pertinent when in context. 

After the visit to the Cemetery and museum we went to have lunch at a restaurant on the river next to the bridge. It was a fantastic lunch and afterwards we took a walk along the bridge itself. After some souvenir shopping we headed to the resort.

The children are really impressed with the resort. They love their rooms and we even got a chance to have a swim (and a slide!) in the pool. Dinner was amazing (BBQ) and I'm sure, after these games and a room inspection they'll sleep soundly tonight. 

I'll post again tomorrow but until then here are some photos from today: