The Lake District Trip

Lesson: Geography

Class: Year 3 Year: 2018 - 2019

Today Year 3 made even more unforgettable memories and experienced a slice of what The Lake District has to offer. The day started with a fascinating visit to The Beatrix Potter Experience. The children were mesmerised by Beatrix Potter memorabilia on display and watched the welcome video about the history of Beatrix Potter with fascination. They then had time to explore the museum, using information booklets to discover clues about the characters from the stories. One child even commented “It’s like stepping into the world of Peter Rabbit!”

The children listened intently to our very informative tour guide Tim. Tim was very impressed with the historic knowledge Year 3 already had about the life of Beatrix Potter.  The children discovered new and exciting facts about Beatrix Potter from Tim, something a computer back in class is unable to do…fill our children full of awe, wonder and inspiration. There was heaps of chatter and questions about Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter and the surrounding area as we continued to explore Mr McGregor’s garden.

The children enjoyed a refreshing break in the café before they set off in search for Lake Windermere. The children used their impressive map reading skills to find ‘pier 2’ passing key landmarks such as St Martin's Church and shops found using the map’s ordnance survey symbols icons.  It was a lovely stroll down towards Lake Windermere; the children were delightfully greeted by Lake Windermere’s permanent feathery residents; some a little too welcoming!

The children successfully navigated their way to Pier 2 where our river cruise was sat waiting for us to board. We hopped aboard and were shown to our seats on the top deck. The children were extremely excited, especially those who hadn't been on a boat before. The engines started, the boat reversed out and gently set off across the river. The children listened carefully to the commentary whilst taking in the beautiful, sunny sights, enjoying eating their lunch. Unfortunately the lovely commentary was interrupted by a flash down pour of rain – much to Year 3’s amusement! The majority of the children and adults chose to retire to the warm comforts of below deck with the rest of the wet passengers – the bravest chose to stay top deck and look the rain cloud directly in the eye in true Jack Sparrow fashion! Never failing to miss out on a learning opportunity the children discovered first-hand the unpredictable climate in the Lake District.

Our river cruise finished at The Brockhole terminal. By now the sun was back out and the children set off down a winding, country path. Again, the views were beautiful and it wasn't long before we arrived at the adventure play park. The behaviour from the children throughout was impeccable and the friendship that they displayed on the play equipment was astounding. They supported those who needed it, encouraged each other to take new challenges and the air was filled with smiles and laughter!

After all the playing, we ventured up to the sun terraces to bask and take in the glorious view of Lake Windermere whilst fighter jets flew up and down the Lake! There were lots of “Ooos “ and “ahhs.” We then completed a Peter Rabbit trail around Brockhole, concluding at a quiet, pebbly beached area on the lake side where the children enjoyed playing and relaxing as they refined their ‘pebble skimming skills’ - an important life skill to hold, I’m sure you’ll agree!

The children and staff thoroughly enjoyed the experience and it has certainly been a "Wow factor" for our new learning! Lots of new experiences encountered from river cruises, to river cruise picnics and tower climbing!

Thank you, as always to our kind volunteers who make our trips so successful!