Wishford Weekend

On Friday 15th June the Year 6 boys embarked on an epic journey, spending the weekend away from their families, camping in the grounds of Hatherop Castle. Dressed in their home clothes and leavers’ hoodies, the boys started the trip in high spirits and were very much looking forward to meeting the Year 6 children from the other Wishford schools. St Edward’s were the first of the visiting schools to arrive and soon set about unpacking and assembling their tents. For some boys this proved to be quite challenging, but they demonstrated perseverance and collaboration to achieve this task.

As evening drew nearer more and more of the schools arrived and the St Edward’s boys began to mingle with the other children and made new friends. After dinner the first real challenge began – the much-anticipated Dance Competition. The boys had worked hard on their routine and were able to stick the choreographed moves throughout, but it was the freestyle section that produced first murmurs of approval as Ifeanyi and George demonstrated Orange Justice, followed by gasps of amazement as Isaac performed a backwards somersault! The boys came third overall, which was a fantastic achievement. Afterwards the children gathered around the campfire for some hot chocolate and marshmallows before bedtime.

On Saturday morning, the boys were split into groups with children from the other schools and participated in the Wishford Olympics. A range of different sporting challenges had to be completed followed by some team-building activities, culminating in using their bodies to spell out “Wishford” on the back lawn. While the children were arranging themselves into the correct positions, Dr Cane-Honeysett had the unenviable task of climbing on top of the tower roof to take aerial photographs. In the afternoon, the boys had the chance to go to the Hatherop Summer fete followed by watching a film in the performing arts centre. In the evening, a disco had been arranged and the boys took the opportunity to impress everyone with their dance moves.

Sadly, we had to leave on Sunday. The boys said goodbye to their new friends and headed back to Reading, exhausted but elated by the whole experience. Some even made songs up about the Wishford Weekend on the bus home. Hopefully they will have fond memories of the weekend, the activities they did and the people they met for many years to come.

Dr Cane-Honeysett.