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On the last Wednesday of the year all the children in the Prep School spend the day with their year on an adventure or educational visit.

The visits this year were:

Transition Loosehill Hall and Treak Cliff Cavern

1st Year Chester Zoo

2nd Year Chatsworth

3rd Year Emma Bridgewater Centre and Trentham Monkey Centre

4th Year Warwick Castle

Transition

Transition had an educational and a fun day, visiting Losehill Hall and Treakcliff Cavern. We spent the morning river dipping, exploring habitats, examining creatures under microscopes and making observational drawings. After a well-earned drink of juice and biscuits we moved onto our next activity which was called Art in the Park. We studied lots of art created by professionals and tried to make our own mini art exhibition. The children scurried around in groups looking for natural resources to create their works of art.

With the temperature soaring to almost 30 degrees, lunch under a large tree provided some lovely shade. Thankfully, during the hottest part of the day, we went deep into a cavern to observe and the rock formations and look at how they mined Blue John stone – a cool 11 degrees down there!

The final highlight entailed a trip to the gift shop to buy some souvenirs. A very enjoyable day for all!

Second Year

The second year pupils arrived at Chatsworth at 9.30 am. They were split into two groups and spent an hour and a half with a guide who showed them around the house. The pupils were fascinated with not only the huge array of treasure and artwork but with the many interesting stories the guides had to tell.

After an ice cream break the children wove their way up through the gardens to the maze. Stopping on route for a refreshing cool down on such a hot day under the Weeping Willow Tree.

A picnic lunch was taken in the park followed by a trip to the farmyard. The highlights being the animal petting area and the shetland foals. The afternoon was then rounded of with a trip to the adventure playground. The children had a marvellous day and returned back to school exhausted having had another 'best day ever!'

Third Year

The Third Years spent a creative morning at the Emma Bridgewater Centre in Stoke, where they were given a choice of pottery to hand paint. After a quick tutorial, everybody enjoyed getting the paints, stencils and sponges out and creating something to take home worthy of Emma Bridgewater herself! After a cup of juice and chocolate bar (and a quick shop at the factory store for the staff!) we proceeded to the Trentham Monkey Centre for the afternoon.

Following a delicious packed lunch in the sunshine, we spent a couple of hours wandering around the 60 acre park, observing the Trentham centre’s many monkeys. The pupils really enjoyed the rare opportunity of seeing these fascinating animals up close. The highlight was a talk from one of the park staff about the monkeys’ behaviour and habitat, followed by feeding time. The day was refreshingly rounded off by ice creams for all from the tea shop. A wonderful time was had by all!