ULLSWATER

When you arrive at school at 8.30am we will go into our building and circle up in our crews. We will take your £10 deposit and your transition pack from your parents. Parents can stay to see you off on the coach.

We will be travelling to the centre on this coach.

During the journey we will ask you not to use phones as we will get you to sit in crews with your crew leader and get to know each other. We will collect phones in before getting on the coach. If you bring £5 for the shop at the centre we can keep this safe for you too.

The journey will take about two and a half hours.

When you are not out on an overnight expedition, you will be sleeping in dorms.

Each dorm is ensuite. This means each room has its own toilet and shower.

Each dorm sleeps 2 or 3 people. You will be placed with one or two other students from your crew. If you prefer to use a nightlight, you can bring this and just need to check that other people in your room are OK with you using it. We are sure that it will be fine though, as #wearecrew

Bedding is provided. You are expected to keep your room tidy and make your bed every morning. There will be a room inspection each morning so you will need to work as Crew to keep your rooms tidy.

Staff sleeping rooms are nearby. A member of Outward Bound staff is on duty each night too.

There are plugs to charge your phone if needed when you are allowed to have them in the evening.

Each child will be required to pay a £10 deposit. This is to cover any lose of damage to equipment. If not required the £10 will be returned when we returned back to school.

There are dry rooms available to all groups, so any clothes that get wet can be dried and used again throughout the week.

There is no need to go out and buy new clothes and please do not send expensive clothes. As clothes will get wet and dirty (this is guaranteed):

What to bring...

• 2 x Dry activity kit: T-shirt (football type material is ideal), hoodie or fleece, tracksuit bottoms, leggings or shorts in warmer weather, 1 pair of old trainers for the dry activities

• 2 x Wet activity kit: T-shirt (football type material is ideal), shorts, a different pair of old trainers for wet activities

• 6 pairs of socks (3 pairs of thick hiking type socks or football socks)

• 6 pairs of underwear

• Tracksuit bottoms, leggings, hoodies, sweat tops or fleece tops are ideal, (try to avoid sending jeans to use during activities)

• Sun hat or cap and sun cream

• Pyjamas

• Personal medication (tablets, inhaler, epipen for example)

• Toiletries, including toothpaste, toothbrush, shower gel and/or shampoo, deodorant. No need to send aftershave, perfume or hair products..

• Transition pack

Useful items but not essential...

• Notepad and pen

• Maximum of £5 for the shop, this is optional

There is no need to bring a big rucksack, as these will be provided by the centre. Suitcase is fine to pack everything in as these will be stored in your room.

You will not need any extra food other than our packed lunch, so no need for sweets or fizzy drinks in your bag.

What the centre supply:

• Waterproof trousers and jacket (everyone will be required to use the centre waterproofs, so no need to bring your own)

• Rucksacks

• Water bottles

• Walking boots and/or wellies

• Sleeping bags & 'bivvy bags' for expeditions

• Plus any technical, safety, activity and expedition related equipment like wetsuits, boyancy aid and helmets

Before taking part in any activities we will meet our instructor, they will tell use what we need for that activity. You will then be given time to go and get any required equipment and return by a set time. It is very important that we only listen to our instructor and we make sure that we have everything with us that we are told to bring.

One of the skills that will be developed while on residential will be your independence. This will mean you will be responsible for looking after all equipment, any centre equipment issued to you and sometimes extra safety equipment. You will also be required to tidy up after yourself at meal times, after activities and around the centre.

Each Crew will be given a store room and drying room to keep their kit in. Your Crew kit room and dry room will be kept tidy and looked after by all Crew members. Each Crew will be responsible for the key to their store room, so personal kit will be safe to leave in through the night to dry out.

All centre kit issued to you must be looked after as if it is your own. It must be kept clean and when handed back on Friday must be de-gunged and cleaned thoroughly and returned without damage.

Outward Bound are an International Leading Adventure provider and although are very organised the activities are always flexible. This is the best way to deliver an Outdoor Adventure programme and ensures that everyone gets the best experience out of the whole trip.

The activities are dependent on a number of things, such as the weather, time available but more importantly the dynamics of the group. If the instructor feels the group needs to be challenged more or less then they may slightly change or completely change an activity. This is to ensure everyone is challenged at the right level and everyone gets the best possible experience from all the activities and the residential trip.

Outward Bound are a very traditional Adventure provider, meaning that the Adventure and experience is usually based around a journey. This could involve a range of transport methods such as: walking, scrambling, climbing, paddling, rowing or sailing.

During the week each Crew will spend time sleeping in the centre in your dorms. But each Crew will also spend time away from the centre on an overnight expedition. This will involve sleeping outside, in a tent, on a boat or in a 'bivvy bag'. All required equipment including sleeping bags, food and water will be supplied for your expedition trip. All you will need to provide is the suitable clothing.

The rest of the time will be spent on day Adventures. These will include water and land based activities. The structure of the challenges will progress through the week. Starting with some lower level Adventure challenges and finishing the week with some gradually more challenging Adventures. The abilities and challenge levels of each Crew member will always be taken into consideration on all of the Adventures.

Challenge levels

Remember these activities and going away on a residential trip in general are designed to get us out of our Comfort Zones. Sometimes this might make you feel nervous, worried or uncomfortable. But remember it is good for us and completely safe, as we wouldn't be allowed to do this if it wasn't.

It is completely normal to feel nervous about going away, it is completely normal to feel nervous about trying new things and new activities. Everyone will feel the same at some point. But these are not good enough reasons for us not to try new things or not to give things our best go. This includes all new experiences like, making new friends, trying new foods, trying new challenges and trying new Adventures.

Just remember getting out of your Comfort Zone is sometimes uncomfortable. But it is so good for us and it is the best way for us to develop and learn what it means to be crew by supporting and challenging each other.

Each crew will be given one of these pods which will be your learning base for the week.

We will do briefings, debrief and planning in your pod.

This is not for sleeping, it is more like a mini classroom.

During evenings at the centre there will be some social time. You will be able to use the grounds to play. There is lots of space to play and explore safely.

There is also a student social room and games room that you can use with your crew.

On Thursday night we will open the shop where you can get some treats and some cool Outward Bound merchandise too if you like it.

We will leave Ullswater at 1pm on Friday 3rd September. If traffic is good we should be back at our school at around 3.30pm. We will update the school website if there are any delays.