Lower 2 Burwell House Residential Trip Report

Posted on 11th November 2022 by Mr Bjorn Billson

This week Lower 2 went on their first residential trip.

This week Lower 2, or Year 4, went on their first residential trip. They spent three jam-packed days at the fantastic Burwell House, Cambridgeshire, learning, collaborating and generally having a wonderful time.

The girls developed a variety of new skills during their stay. Burwell House, with its lovely enclosed grounds, was a perfect place to explore and develop their map reading. The girls learnt how to orientate a map, use four figure grid references and accurately use a compass. Once we had mastered these by exploring the gardens, we headed out into Burwell village for a thrilling, timed orienteering challenge.

There were many highlights for the girls, who have not stopped talking about all the things they experienced since getting back.

“Learning to read a map was so much fun. We had to find clues hanging in the trees. I’m a much better map reader now.”

Sofia in Lower 2B at Norwich High Prep School for Girls

Lots of fun was had running away from the teachers in an exciting game of Burwell Fox and the evenings were packed full of laughter. The girls also loved the opportunity to do some enamelling, making their own keyrings to take home.

“I really enjoyed how the staff made it so fun. There was activity after activity and I loved it!”. 

Florence in Lower 2B at Norwich High Prep School for Girls

Amongst the teachers, our highlight was unanimously seeing the girls come together and collaborate well as a whole group and in smaller teams. The reflection sessions on their team-working were very useful and they put all of their thoughts to good use in their final group challenge: working in their teams to build a container to protect their egg from a drop from the highest point in Burwell House. A big well done to the team Flying Nature Egg, whose egg survived the drop!

Of course, this trip was not without its challenges. An unexpected torrential downpour left us rather wet and a fire alarm on the last night just before dropping off to sleep was not what we were expecting. However, we were impressed with the way the girls handled these with maturity and resilience; after the fire alarm we were soon back in bed and sleeping soundly.

It really was a wonderful experience for all of us and the girls are already thinking ahead to their next residential in Upper 2.

After a night of activities we headed to bed for a much needed rest.