It has been a fantastic first few days at Heritage Summer Camps here at Sunningdale and all the children have settled in really well with lots of smiles and enthusiasm. On Sunday night we had a European themed welcome dinner for all where everyone had a chance to meet the other children and the staff. There was a lovely ambience. After dinner, we all watched the England vs. Spain final which unfortunately didn’t go the way the majority wanted but the children enjoyed the spectacle nonetheless. The kids were told about our house competition using the four Harry Potter Houses: Gryfindor, Hufflepuff, Slytherin and Ravenclaw. We had some initial points available for the football final which created some extra excitement with the house sorting to come on Monday.

Monday was straight into the classrooms in the morning for our three academic course: ISEB Preparation, Academic Enrichment and EAL. The lessons were followed in the afternoon with ‘Movie Maker’. This was where the children were all involved in filming a mini movie based upon Harry Potter, in costumes, with lines and plenty of excitement. We very much look forward to the final edit next week for viewing. After this we gave out their Heritage Summer Camp T-shirts and allocated them into one of the four Harry Potter Houses. We assigned each of the four activity leaders (Gap Students) into one of the teams to act as mentors and leaders. The first task before dinner was to set the children loose on a scavenger hunt to search the Sunningdale grounds for the ‘snitches’ that were hidden around the school site. As you can imagine this created a lot of excitement as the kids scurried across the grounds in search of some early house points. After dinner the children participated in either some swimming, gym football or some indoor board games. What a fantastic first day and there were some tired heads upon bedtime!

The children enjoyed another full day on Tuesday. The children all worked very hard in the classroom before enjoying an action packed afternoon of outdoor activities. After lunch the kids undertook a carousel of activities in their houses: tennis, football, badminton and a hybrid of netball/softball. We had some lovely sunny weather for most of the day which led to plenty of water breaks to keep their energy and spirits up! The children played and mixed superbly well and we had a wonderful afternoon. In the evening after dinner some children did some Art & Drawing in the art room, some played down by the climbing frame play area whilst other played table tennis and some quiet chess/backgammon in the library.

The weather is looking great for the end of the first week and what a fantastic start it has been all around.

It has been an action packed few days for the students and staff at Heritage Summer Camps as we hope you have all seen from our Instagram page! Insta: heritage_summercamps

On Wednesday all of the children visited Longleat Safari Park in Wiltshire. It was a wonderful excursion and it enabled the children to visit one of the UK’s most famous tourist destinations. The children enjoyed the maze, the games and boat trip, but above all they loved the safari and the opportunity to see so many animals including: lion, rhino, giraffe and tiger. It was a real highlight and all the children returned with happy memories.

The academic programme followed on Thursday and Friday morning with the ISEB Preparation Course, Academic Enrichment and EAL classes taking centre stage. All the children have been working hard and we look forward to seeing how they progress in Week 2. The afternoons were a mixture of sports and games. Plenty of football, cricket, fives, basketball and badminton have been on offer but also swimming and slip and slide as we enjoyed an exceptionally hot Friday! Lots of House Points have been up for grabs and we look forward to sharing the final winners with you at the end of the camp!

One of the highlights of Heritage Summer Camps is our ‘Play in A Day’. This drama extravaganza was run by Mr Justin Pugsley who created his own version of ‘Macbeth’ for the students on Saturday. It was a huge triumph and everyone came away smiling! Some of the performances were outstanding and it was remarkable to see how much progress had been made in just the one day.

On Sunday the children enjoyed some STEM activities which included a VEX Robotics challenge led by Mr Dawson and Harry. One group had to build a robot with a lifting arm to save objects from the Martian craters. The second group had to create a robot to race around a track with plenty of obstacles. It was great fun but challenged the children and they learnt about electronics, construction, team work and trial and error. On Saturday evening the children all watched a film in the army hut before bedtime.

The children enjoyed our version of the Olympics which took place under the watchful eye of Mr Richard. Lots of events, lots of drama and some excellent athletes on show! From the long jump to the 100 metre dash there was something for everyone at this year’s Heritage Summer Camps Olympics. The weekend culminated in the game ‘Capture The Flag’ which was superb fun!

On Monday the children returned to the classrooms before being introduced to some traditional UK sports in the afternoon. Cricket, tennis and rounders were very popular!

Please do all follow heritage_summercamps on Instagram for regular updates!

We look forward to updating you later in the week.

HSC Team