Field Day 2023

Last Friday was our first Field Day of the year at School, and all students took part in a range of co-curricular activities throughout the day, with students in Years 7 and 8 taking part in morning activities.  Field Day offers our students the chance to put down pens and computers and spend time with one another as a community. 

The variety of activities taking place in School was vast.  From Mandarin workshops, paintballing, self-defence and public speaking, to aero balling, setting up bashas in a harbour, patrolling, ambushing, learning first aid and Chinese drumming. 

This day and these activities boost confidence, encourage interaction with one another and extend social networks, providing the opportunity to learn and experience new skills and abilities, as well as developing new interests along the way.  This is vital in order to offer students and staff the chance to have fun and relax away from the pressure of School work, and is an important part of our curriculum. 

Alongside all of these activities our Army and Royal Navy Combined Cadet Force (CCF) also went out on overnights, and you can read about these and all of the other activities below.

CCF RAF
CCF RAF cadets spent the day taking part in aerotag, paintballing and Lazer Quest, whilst also enjoying a full day in the range, shooting, testing themselves on leadership tasks and even had the opportunity to have a go at interactive flight simulation.

CCF Army
CCF Army cadets form Years 10, 11 and 12 deployed to RAF Barnham training area, where they stayed overnight for their Field Day exercise.  On arrival cadets set up the bashas to sleep under and cooked their evening meal from their ration packs.  During the evening they conducted ambushes using blank ammunition.  Friday saw the Year 9 cadets go through a rota of stands: defensive position, navigation, patrol contact drills and observation.  Despite the forecast there was only heavy rain during the night when the cadets were all tucked up nice and dry under their bashas.

CCF Royal Navy
The Royal Navy Section of the CCF spent a fascinating field day at Chatham. The cadets spent the night in bunks on board HMS Cavalier, a World War II destroyer and one-time fastest ship in the fleet, before a day exploring the historic dockyard.  Here, amongst other things, they were dwarfed by the UK’s only remaining Polaris missile, squeezed through the length of a Royal Navy submarine, made a length of rope in Europe’s longest brick building, and were complimented on the excellence of their drill.

Year 7
Learning about Taichi and Chinese drumming, as well as Chinese calligraphy, Year 7 students were treated to a morning of Mandarin in School. It was a great opportunity for students to learn about Chinese culture outside usual classroom settings, which forms an important part of their language study.

Year 8
Year 8’s Field Day consisted of three invaluable and interactive skills: first aid, self-defence and public speaking.  School’s Matron was kind enough to give up her time to talk to students about and deliver first aid training, while Smart Dojos came into School to explain and demonstrate self-defence techniques with students.  Mrs Lockwood, our Head of LAMDA spent time sharing tips and suggestions for public speaking. 

Year 9 Army and RAF visit to Duxford
Our Year 9 Army and RAF CCF cadets visited Duxford Air Museum as part of their Field Day.  They went to the American Hangar, Land Warfare, which is dedicated to the Royal Anglian Regiment, whose cap badge we wear, and spent the day discovering iconic aircraft, historical objects and real-life war stories.  Students also got the chance to step onboard a Concorde as well as being treated to aircraft actually flying around the site on the day.