Thursday afternoon

Archery, rifle shooting and the picturesque but intimidating zipwire took centre stage this morning. Twenty extra minutes in bed seemed to have had little impact on the bleary-eyed, shuffling horde that made their way across to the canteen this morning for breakfast but at least the sun was up to take the chill off the autumnal weather. Slowly, however, the children woke up and warmed up and, after a few rounds of the exciting corridor-based sport of 'bottleball', we were ready to get out and active once more.

The zipwire was first up, a long and fast downhill descent suspended high above the scenic meadows and lakes of Caythorpe Court. The instructors were very impressed with how quickly the children got into their harnesses and helmets, and one by one, like mud-spattered lemmings, they began to throw themselves off the high platform. On the descent, some clung, white-knuckled, to the supporting ropes, many flailed their limbs with joyous abandon, a couple 'dabbed' and Sophie gave a rousing rendition of 'I believe I can fly'. Once again, the encouragement provided by our groups was amazing to behold as even the most reluctant 'zippers' were coaxed and cajoled up the long staircase and to the edge of the launch platform!

Archery proved a hit for the groups who had not had a chance the previous day. Some excellent individual performances in practice by Evan and Sonny were highlights for Group 1, whilst the 'Pizza Game', with pairs aiming for different colours on the target in order, proved a big hit.

After a quick break, Mrs Wright returned to the Rifle Range with her group. Whilst the children enthusiastically peppered the targets (and the wall behind the targets) with pellets, a steely-eyed Mrs Wright repeatedly found the tiny bullseye with the measured precision of a trained marksman; surely a call-up for the Team GB squad at the next Olympic Games is imminent.

Another enormous lunch was followed by some high-speed games on the field behind our hall, before it was time to head to the 'activity garden' to meet our instructors for the afternoon's events: the infamous challenge course, the hotly-anticipated and particularly demanding-looking climbing wall, and a final delve into the tunnels. At this point, the official blogger left the fray and headed back to the canteen where he has now come to roost with a cuppa and some sneaky Maltesers sitting on the table next to the school laptop,

Some pictures from this morning will be added very shortly.