Woodhouse
Pre prep
Prep School
Educational visits
At Winterfold we believe strongly that educational trips and activities outside the classroom help to widen the horizons and learning opportunities of our pupils. Every child will usually have at least one trip out of school each term. There are visits to a rich variety of places of interest which lie within easy reach of the school: theatres, country houses, museums, castles, art galleries, craft centres, factories, wildlife parks, re-cycling centres and sports stadiums. Such trips complement what is taught in the classroom and enable children to access their learning from a different, often ‘hands on’ perspective.
This year all the children in the Prep School have also been involved in a variety of extra-curricular courses and activities, many of which were residential.
As well as their action-packed Leavers’ Programme, Year 8 have enjoyed a residential Geography trip to the Brecon Beacons, where they also went gorge walking, and numerous outings to art galleries, museums and theatres. Year 7 took part in a 3 day team-building exercise with World Challenge Expeditions, aimed to develop their leadership skills and identify potential prefects of the School. The World Challenge Initiative has now been introduced throughout the Prep School. Year 7 also took part in a very successful weeks trip to France and also experienced caving at Cheddar Gorge.
Year 6 enjoyed a five day River Studies trip to the Wye Valley during which they camped in the open air and took part in various outdoor pursuits and geographic activities. They also participated in a problem-solving challenge day at Cheltenham College. Year 5 spent four days on a residential PGL trip to the Isle of Wight and a two-day World Challenge trip to Cannock.
Year 4 went on a residential PGL trip to Ross on Wye, where they spent three nights at the Hillcrest PGL Centre. For most of the children this was the very first time they had stayed away from home, and over the three days they enjoyed many new experiences. These included raft building and subsequent sailing of the vessel, kayaking, wall climbing and abseiling, quad biking, zip wiring, and, as a climax, an extremely muddy adventure challenge course! Year 3 children have enjoyed a range of day trips, including Snibston Science Park, Ragley Hall, and a Geography fieldwork trip to Weston-Super-Mare.
In June a team of 11 children from years 6, 7 and 8 competed at Baggeridge Country Park in the West Midlands Schools Orienteering Championships. The event attracted over 200 competitors from across the Midlands. Overall, our combined scores meant that Winterfold finished in 2nd place in the middle schools category.
Many pupils throughout the school also took part in a ski trip to Davos in Switzerland in February.