Year 6 Residential

March 2026

Year 6 Residential – Day 1 Update

We have arrived safely at Plas Pencelli and have had a brilliant first day together. The children have settled into their rooms really well. Some beds are a little neater than others, but everyone has made a great start! A big thank you to you as parents. The children have come well prepared, everything is named, and so far nothing has gone missing.

The journey was smooth and we enjoyed making our own lunches on arrival. This afternoon we headed out on an adventure walk down the dingle, where the children have already begun to challenge themselves. Some have even been crawling through tight tunnels and really pushing their boundaries, which has been fantastic to see.

We have been lucky with the weather so far, which has helped us ease into the residential. This evening we enjoyed a delicious dinner of burgers and profiteroles, which went down very well. As I write this, the children are out in the woods taking part in orienteering in the dark, showing great teamwork and resilience!

Most importantly, everyone is happy and settled. There have been no tears and no worries, just lots of excitement and positivity. We are now all hoping for a good night’s sleep ahead of a full day of activities tomorrow. I’ve got some good ‘wake-up’ music planned for the morning…

All is well here. We hope everything is good at home too, and we are looking forward to continuing to make lots of special memories over the next few days. I’ll do my best to make sure that we get a good range of photos across the week.

Mr Powe

Residential Day 2

Day two has been another really positive day here at Plas Pencelli.

After a good first night, everyone slept really well, with very few issues at all. We were then gently welcomed into the day by Mr Powe’s usual selection of unusual and interesting music choices, which certainly helped get everyone up and going.

We also have two birthdays in the group today, so we have been enjoying celebrating those in different ways across the day, which has added to the fun.

Although the weather has been a bit dismal at times, it certainly has not dampened spirits. Two groups headed out climbing in the wind and rain and showed brilliant perseverance throughout. It was great to see children encouraging one another, keeping going when things felt difficult, and really sticking with the challenge.

The other two groups took on caving today, which for many was well outside their comfort zone. Again, the children rose to it brilliantly and supported each other really well. We have seen lots of teamwork, resilience and determination across the day, and the children should be very proud of themselves.

There is a really good feeling amongst the group, and it has been lovely to see confidence continuing to grow as the children throw themselves into new experiences. We also have lots of photos to share with you in this update! Tonight, we have the joys of heading down into the dingle…in the dark…and the rain. They’ll be grateful for their warm beds tonight for sure!

We hope all is well back in Staverton. We are continuing to make great memories here and are looking forward to another full day tomorrow.

Residential Day 3

What a day it has been!

Today has seen groups take on canoeing, caving and climbing, and it is fair to say we have experienced all the weather the mountains could throw at us. Snow, sleet, rain, sunshine and plenty of wind for good measure. It certainly made for an unforgettable day and perhaps explains why I thought it was a good idea to wake everyone up this morning with Michael Bublé’s Christmas album!

It has been fantastic to see how much the children’s confidence and teamwork have grown as the week has gone on. They are encouraging one another, stepping outside of their comfort zones and showing real resilience in challenging conditions.

This evening has been a chance to relax a little, with a visit to the shop and some team challenges to finish off the day. Safe to say, after everything they’ve packed in today, we won’t have any trouble getting them to sleep tonight.

Finally, I would like to say a huge thank you to the staff who have made this experience possible. Mrs Williams, Miss Kearney, Mr Millichip, Mrs Sykes, Miss Moore and Miss Jefferys have given their time, energy and care to ensure the children have such a memorable and meaningful experience. We are very grateful to them all.

Another brilliant day, full of memories.

Day 4 update

It’s been another amazing day here at Pencelli. Although we’re at the point where we’re a bit tired and ready to see families again, all of the children have been amazing and persevering throughout all the challenges of the day.

We’ve had two groups canoeing today. The canoeing groups learned how to paddle and work together as a team to navigate through the canal about 2 and a half miles towards their end point, seeing some beautiful wildlife and scenery along the way. Both teams finished with a chance to jump in at the end, which they thoroughly enjoyed.

The other two groups were climbing, learning how to navigate over quarry rocks to start with then learning how to support each other up using the ropes. It was amazing to see so many children challenging themselves to climb up and so many children supporting each other.

In the evening, we’ve had a scavenger hunt, with the children running around to find various items around the groups as quick as possible. Although there were some heated debates around what a rounded pebble looks like, all children joined in well and had a good time.

Finally, one of the biggest challenges of the day… the great tidy up. As we write this, everyone is packing their suitcases ready for tomorrow when they come home. Hopefully, there won’t be too many unclaimed smelly socks.

Tomorrow, we have a gorge walk with the chance to go sliding down and going through waterfalls before heading back onto the bus to get home. All the children have done brilliantly and they are very much looking forward to seeing you again.