Overnight Adventures at PGL Swindon
Nursery and Prep School
“ The treetops were tangled, the trees were intertwined with one another, and it was the perfect setting for our adventure”India, Year 6
It all started a few weeks ago when we were told that Year 6 would be going on an overnight residential to a PGL in Swindon. Everyone was so excited to go somewhere other than Waitrose! Dusting off the cobwebs settled on our long-lost bags and suitcases, we were all so looking forward to it and couldn’t stop talking about it. We could not believe that the last time we went somewhere was 15 months ago, it was exciting enough that we were going somewhere...but sleeping away as well, we felt like the luckiest girls in the world!
When we arrived at PGL we were so excited to find out what the activities were and what dorms and activity groups we would be put into. There was such an exciting selection of activities, including; the trapeze, archery, abseiling and the giant swing. The wildlife and natural scenery around us was just gorgeous, there were rabbits, deer, geese and ducklings. The scenery was so lush, it felt like we were in the wilderness! The treetops were tangled, the trees were intertwined with one another, and it was the perfect setting for our adventure.
My group’s first group activity was the trapeze, which was so exhilarating. We put on our harnesses and learnt about the different levels of jumping to reach the trapeze. We all managed to get past the first level, but then it got increasingly difficult as the bars were set further and further away, tantalising and teasing us. We were all leaping like frogs to try and reach the bar, but alas, we couldn’t quite reach.
Our second activity, archery, was much harder than I expected - archery isn't as simple as it looks! We had to keep our eye on the target, almost as if we were having a staring contest with the target...we were all eyeing the target as if it had done something terrible. We played a very fun game called the cutlery game where we had to aim for different colours to earn different types of cutlery. If you got the bullseye, you would get a full set of cutlery, however, if you missed the target during all of your turns, you would become a member of the “no cutlery” crew.
Our third activity was abseiling - we climbed up four floors and once at the top we to walk down the wall back to the ground. It was very scary when we looked over the edge and saw how high up we were. It was almost as if we were all mountaineers in abseiling. Some of us were jumping down the wall like rabbits with springs in our legs, but most of us walking down the wall in slow-motion as if we were walking on the moon.
At the end of a very jam-packed day confronted some of our fears and helping each other, we had a very delicious dinner of bangers and mash before sitting in front of the campfire. Unfortunately, the torrential rain had ideas to scupper our plans, so we had an artificial campfire instead, made out of red ropes for the logs around it and red netball bibs for the flames. It was the perfect end to a perfect day, reflecting on our achievements as we sang lots of campfire song and enjoyed huge marshmallows, the size of 5 put together!
The next morning, despite being shattered, we all had one more activity before we headed back on the coach...the giant swing! Two people were attached to a metal bar and pulled up by the other members of the group to a great height. We then had to pull a string to release the swing, then away we went!
It was a wonderful trip and a fantastic bonding experience with our friends. I loved going to PGL and was glad to make my last residential in the Prep School to be such an amazing one. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. I had the best time ever.
It wouldn’t have been possible had it not been for our amazing teachers, Miss Gurney, Mrs Cox and Miss Potter, organising it and accompanying us on such an exciting trip. Thank you!