Homeward bound!

The journey was smooth and fairly plain sailing but not before we finished our last day at Hilltop!

Another day starting with cooked breakfast, cereal and toast. On to the final activity of the trip. The children were all packed up and out of their rooms by 9am.  The adults and Hilltop staff did a final sweep to make sure we had anything left in rooms etc.

We do have 3 black bags full of  lost property, that will be available for you to look at upon our return after the half term break. If you do find clothes or items in your child's case, that isn't theirs, please return them to school after the half term.

Finally, I want to say a personal thank you to our staff who go above and beyond for the children enabling such wonderful experiences to happen: Mr Irons, Miss Owen, Mrs Howe, Mrs Banks, Miss Sainter, Mrs Allan, Miss Snow, Mrs Hammond and Miss Larking  - you have been amazing and we are lucky to have you!

Mrs Merritt

15.2.24 Day 4

What another great day at Hilltop! Today's breakfast was delicious: croissants, toast, yoghurt and fresh fruit. We set off for our fun pact morning: air jump, big zipper, bush craft, super swing and bikes. The children have really worked hard to try new things; the team spirit has been fantastic. We can all be extremely proud of their efforts. We have had children who started on scooters but with determination and practise, began to ride a bike for the first time. Some children who came to Hilltop last year, were so proud of getting to a higher level or having a go on things they didn't want to last year.

For lunch the children created their own wraps, then, cookie for a dessert. Soon enough, we were back out for the afternoon trials -  climbing wall, power fan, team tasks, bush craft, archery and crates. 

Now, we are about to have our fish and chips and ready for our disco tonight!

It has been a truly pleasant week with the children really enjoying themselves, learning new things and becoming more independent. It has been another successful year at Hilltop. Thank you for all of your support, preparing the children for this great experience and a huge thank you to all of our amazing staff who help to make this possible!

We will see you tomorrow around 4pm when we arrive home.

14.2.24 Day 3

Good afternoon and Happy Valentine's Day from Hilltop! It has been another successful day and even though we had been forecast rain, we have been really lucky today! The temperature has been mild but the rain overnight has meant it has been quite muddy which meant we had fun on the mountain bikes!

We started the day with yet another cooked breakfast followed by a delicious pizza lunch and chocolate cornflake cake-yummy! We cannot thank the Hilltop staff enough for being so accommodating to the children – even the fussiest of eaters are happy with their food choices.

Tonight: roast dinner and cheesecake!

It has been a fun pact day of activities from bush craft to air jump to crate building. The children are really developing their team building skills.

'I rode over all the bumps on the bikes -I raced through the puddles.' DD

‘I faced my fears and jumped from Power Fan.’ FF

'Air jump has been my favourite so far - I got to the highest level. The assault course was fun as it was like being in the Army.' KH

'The assault course was so much fun because we got so muddy!' GM

‘We shot some arrows and I managed to hit a balloon and double my score’ OR

‘I enjoyed the tree top trail today because I conquered my fear of heights’ ACB

13.2.24 - Day 2:

Despite the children being extremely excited for their first night at Hilltop, the children were tucked up in bed by 9pm ready for lights out. We started the day with a delicious cooked breakfast (toast and cereal for some) ready for the busy day ahead.  Lunch was jacket potato followed by pancakes! We had a feast!  Dinner today is burger and fries followed by apple crumble and custard – some of us were shocked with the amount of food on offer!

 Group 1 had a fun day on Super Swing, Tree Top Trail and bikes.

It was amazing to see so many children work together to make their way across the Tree top Trail. You don’t realise how high it is until you are up there! Mrs Howe and Mrs Banks helped some children on their bikes using the bike tracks – whizzing their way around – up and down the ramps.

Group 2 did Archery and Tree top trail – another great success. The children loved archery in particular and tried to pop balloons.

Group 3 did Air jump and Climbing wall and power fan

Power fan was so much fun – we worked hard to challenge ourselves and try new things – remembering the Hilltop motto ‘Challenge by choice’  TP ‘I couldn’t believe I got all the way to level 8. I am really proud of myself!’ ACB

It was amazing to see so many children reach the top of Power fan. Even if they didn’t take the final plunge, so many children challenged themselves and should be extremely proud of their efforts.

Group 4 did the climbing wall/power fan – big zipper and team tasks

It was so much fun! Zooming down the Big Zipper was a firm favourite! It is quite the trek up to the platform but the zip line down made it completely worth it!

All children spent the day working together to support one another. Even the staff at Hilltop commented how hard the children had tried to help one another and the children’s positive attitude.

The children have enjoyed reading all of their messages sent through their telegrams so keep them coming!

12.2.24 Day 1:

We are pleased to say we had a smooth journey here, with only one short stop. The team at Hilltop were ready for our arrival, introduced themselves, explained how everything worked here and helped us settle into our rooms.

After a quick lunch break, we started off on our first task: icebreakers.

For this we set off into three groups, we played a mixture of team building activities which gave us a short tour of some of the activities planned for this week, rope skills and trust exercises. We had a go at putting on harnesses in preparation for the week.

It has been lovely to see so many children come together and work collaboratively. The adults are in the Hilltop spirit with Miss Sainter practising her dance moves (moonwalking) ready for the disco on Thursday!