All Aboard!

P6C and P6B Boys will travel together on Bus One with Ms Gallagher, Ms French and Mr Anthony. P6A and P6B Girls will travel on Bus Two with Ms Christie, Miss Stewardson and Miss Inglis. Mrs Walker is travelling by car and will meet us at Benmore. We are delighted that Mr Hewitt (former P6B Class Teacher and now Principal Teacher of City of Edinburgh Outdoor Learning) can join us on Wednesday and Thursday. We expect to leave Sciennes on Monday between 9.45am and 10.am and parents are welcome to wait in the playground to wave us off. Pupils who are travel sick will board the bus first. We will remind pupils to take their day bag - with packed lunch - onto the bus. We will have lunch and a comfort stop at Battery Park, Gourock before boarding the ferry to Dunoon and then heading to Benmore.

When we arrive, pupils will be asked to carry ANY piece of luggage into the Benmore Centre and then gather to meet their instructors, who will issue them with bed linen, show them their dorms and take them on a tour of the building. After a short while to unpack and make their beds they'll be off into the outdoors on a tour of the grounds and a first activity. After tea and cake at 5pm, Senior Instructor Graeme will gather the whole group to welcome them and explain procedures. Dinner is at 6.15pm until 7.15pm. Next, each class meets for diary time and during that session we will open the tuck shop. On the first evening, pupils can look at souvenirs and will be able to buy one sweet per evening. (They can begin buying souvenirs - mugs, small toys, notebooks, postcards, pencils, rubbers, rulers etc - the following evening.) And finally, our first day of adventure ends with a night walk!

We will endeavour to post as many updates as we can on the blog, but please be aware that it is difficult to obtain a signal and upload speed is very slow. We also want to spend as much time as we can with the children and so we will take lots of photographs that we can post on our return. We'll post as many as we can while we're there. Please feel welcome to add comments to the blog. There is one computer we can access on a large screen, so the children may be able to see comments on the blog from time to time and we will try to do this when we can. We'll publish a list of Activity Groups after we arrive and will try to label (see LABELS section to the right) as many posts as we can with Activity Groups 1-9  so that you can search the blog more easily.

Thursday night is Disco Night so remember to pack something sparkly! There will also be a supervised quiet room available for those who are not so keen on discos.

Pupils will travel on the same buses on the return journey and we will post updates about our progress and expected time of arrival on this blog. We expect to arrive back at Sciennes around 12.30pm on Friday 13th February. (If there were to be any significant, unexpected delay we would send a text message via Call Parents.) Please assist us when we return by collecting ANY piece of luggage and taking it into the playground and ensuring all pupils stay on the pavement when they get off the bus.

Thank you for all your support in getting the children ready for our week at Benmore. We are all really looking forward to spending time with them and we aim to make sure it is a memorable, safe and enjoyable trip where new friends are made and new confidence is developed.