On Monday, 10 gritty members of Year 6 went to Pangbourne College to face their fears and develop their learning powers of collaboration and risk-taking. Put into groups with pupils from other local prep schools, they had to problem-solve and communicate their way through a variety of tasks. The catch…? This was all done on Pangbourne’s High Ropes course! They all recognised the Learning Powers they were developing and came away with different experiences and reflections. For example:
“Teamwork, effort and perseverance; yesterday I wanted to push myself further until I got to the top of where I was supposed to be. Using my tenacity I climbed as high as I could until I summited [sic] the climbing tower. I was so scared, but I got myself up.” (Olivia)
“It was very hard at first but as we carried on it suddenly became a lot easier because our whole team was working together… Today I learned that if you try hard enough then you can do anything. I am very glad that I chose to go because it made me realise how much easier it is to work in a team than all by yourself.” (Charlie)
“I have learned a lot – such as communicate with other people and to let other people share their ideas rather than me blurting out my ideas.” (Alex)
“Perseverance, effort and collaboration were three words constantly ringing in my ears. Yesterday was a day of challenges, out of the comfort zone. The teamwork exercises whizzed by, and while we were in them, the help of a teammate, always there was immensely helpful. As the challenges pushed us further, some people may think that it is a bit hard being pushed, but from what I learned yesterday that means that they are not being pushed enough. We thought about what techniques we could use to benefit everyone in the team. I think that the tower pushed us the furthest because of the height and the space of the platform. Leaning back took it a whole step further. If I had to sum up this whole trip in one word it would definitely be G.R.I.T.!” (Ella)
“I have learnt that I can do anything if I put my mind to it. It was worth going because I have learnt that I can work with anyone if I try and I can make new friends quickly.” (Max)
“I was excited to get stuck in to learn how to work with people you didn’t know… I really want to work on my collaboration.” (Harry)
Written by: Mr Atherton
