Latest News

The last final day of activities has happened and what a great day it has been. Over the week, the children have now completed the following activities: abseiling, canoeing, raft-building, climbing, sports, fun games, camp fire, shelter building, orienteering, zip-wire and archery!

As we type this up, the music is booming and the happy sound of children singing to songs and cheering away is vibrating through the room. 'Sweet Caroline' started to play and we decided to join in the fun. It was no surprise to see certain cricket fans at the front leading the song! (So good, so good, so good!).

Lewis has celebrated his birthday today and one that I am sure he will remember for a very long time. 64 children singing 'Happy Birthday' at the top of their voices was a joy and no doubt heard across the New Forest! Birthday cake soon followed and enjoyed by all! Thank you for the sweets Lewis' mum - they were a real hit!

A BBQ for dinner tonight and the children certainly enjoyed this. This was finished off nicely with delicious New Forest ice-cream. Please see the photos below!

The Anton Hairdressing salon opened tonight - pre disco! It was quite exhausting, as four hairdressers had an endless row of children to get through. The problem we had was that we hired a clueless apprentice, who was really rather slow (apparently he had never even dried hair before!!).

So, almost the end of a busy week and what a week it has been. These children are a wonderful, fun, polite bunch, who have made us laugh out loud lots. Avon Tyrrell is always a fitting way to celebrate and say goodbye to our Year 6 children. They have shown many qualities this week: independence, resilience, confidence, determination, achievement and learnt to tackle their fears. Now they are ready to start their next journey in life and we are sure that every child will continue to flourish. As we like to say at Anton, every child has many a talent whether it is sporting, musical, creative or academic. We wish them all the best at secondary school. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank you for all your support and encouragement this year.

We better go - the disco is going to end very soon and we don't want to miss out on the last of couple of dances!

See you all tomorrow and we will send a text to finalise the time we will be back at school.

Thanks

Bree House and Dave May

#stillnorain

Avon Tyrrell - Day 3 More Photos

Wed 17 Jul 2019

Avon Tyrrell - Day 3

Wed 17 Jul 2019

Another busy day here at Avon Tyrrell! The children have once again enjoyed a variety of activities and have got really stuck into them all. Food has been great again - pizza for lunch and roast chicken for dinner.

After Mrs House felt the need to get a certain few boys wet with water yesterday, it was Mr May's turn today. I am sure you will be able to work it out for your self by looking at the photographs!

There was also more opportunities for children to challenge themselves and conquer their fears. We are extremely proud of all their efforts today. A particular highlight was watching a raft building group singing a song at the top of their voices - it was so lovely to see them having such a great time. (We will try and get the video on the website if we can work out how!)

The children are currently enjoying a camp fire so please excuse the brief blog tonight, as we would like to get down there and join in the fun.

Best wishes from beautiful Burley

Mrs House and Mr May

#norainhere

P.S. We will upload a load more photos after the campfire - including the room photos!

More photos from Day 2

Tue 16 Jul 2019

Avon Tyrrell

Tue 16 Jul 2019

The Burley Bloggers have returned!

Before we even start blogging about today, we know you have been waiting for the result. Did 6H or 6M win the football match last night? Well, it was a stunning victory for 6H much to Mr May's disgust! Mrs House now realises that her intensive, secret football training has worked a treat, whilst Mr May and Mr Rist are no longer on speaking terms. The atmosphere was tense! However, after the children slept reasonably well, all was forgiven after a delicious yummy fry up! My goodness it is nice to be cooked a full fry up on a Tuesday morning!

Today, was the start of a range of activities. Some were led by the brilliant Avon Tyrrell staff, who have really helped the children to overcome fears. Others have been led by the equally brilliant Anton staff! The weather has been beautiful - sun shine all day and we refuse to believe that rain could be coming Thursday.

Numerous activities took place and these have ranged from: canoeing, raft building, zip-wire, climbing, shelter building, orienteering, archery and sports. I must say sitting by the beautiful, tranquil lake, catching some rays was an utter joy. Laughter, giggling, singing and some rather loud splashes could be heard. It was really great to see the children having such fun out of the classroom - the least they deserve after all their hard work this year.

One funny moment of the day took place during shelter building. It was time for Mrs House to take revenge on a few of the boys! Once the shelter had been created, it was soon tested out by the children sitting in it and seeing if it could withstand 'torrential rain.' Taking one boy by complete and utter surprise water heavily soaked him from head to toe! Responding in the politest of ways, considering the circumstances, and not knowing what to do, he stood there shocked. (I am sure my time will come!)

Meal times have again been a huge success. Lunch was BBQ chicken wraps and dinner was good old fish and chips! The sugary doughnuts for dessert delighted the children, who somehow found space; however, that was nothing compared to Mr Tooby's efforts!

Once again, the children are outside enjoying the evening sun with their friends, whilst Anton staff encourage as much running about as possible to ensure those sugary doughnuts don't come back to haunt us tonight!

The children really have been superb today. It has been so lovely to see them overcome fears whilst zooming down the zip-wire, setting personal goals in archery and climbing and accidentally 'falling into' the water at any given opportunity during raft building! The laughter has been endless!

We have gone photo crazy today, as we know you all love seeing your children enjoying their time away. (Don't worry room photos will follow tomorrow so please contain your excitement for now!)

Best wishes and sunny smiles,

Mrs House and Mr May - blogging all day every day

#funinthesun

P.S. Can you spot your children's feet and who the poor boys were who got soaked?!

Avon Tyrrell - Day 1

Mon 15 Jul 2019

After a safe journey, we arrived in beautiful Burley. We were greeted by Avon Tyrrell staff, who then gave us a little tour and showed us to our rooms. The children's first challenging task of the day: making their own beds. Mr May and Mrs House were horrified by one boys' room (no names mentioned!), who had all decided it was far easier to just sleep on the mattresses with no covers. However, they were soon to discover that they would not be leaving the room until their beds were made! Mrs House would just like to point out that Mr May was more of a hindrance and was soon asked to vacate the room followed soon after by the boys, as sometimes it is far easier and less stressful to just do the job yourself - I think my mothering skills kicked in at this point!

Once all rooms were sorted out, it was time for lunch. An array of food (hot and cold) was on offer with most going for chicken nuggets and chips. Once fuelled, we all headed out into the heart of the New Forest for a hike. The hike is always a great chance for the children to take in the beautiful scenery but also chat with friends. Whilst the hike was fairly demanding for some, Jelly babies were a great bribe and provided the energy needed to finish! You may notice from the photos the difference between the initial photo and the final ones. A few exhausted children … and staff too!

Dinner followed and bangers and mash went down well, as we certainly had built up an appetite. The highlight of dinner was definitely desert (waffles, ice-cream and chocolate sauce) where for the first time the hall turned to complete silence! Utter bliss!

The children are now enjoying some down time outside. The weather has been simply perfect today (fingers crossed for the same tomorrow). Some children are now playing football, some are enjoying a fun game of American football and others hide and seek or chatting with their friends. Rumour also has it that there is soon to be a football game between 6H and 6M. We will let you know tomorrow who was victorious!

A short and sweet blog today but we hope you enjoy all the photographs.

Regards

Bree House and Dave May (The best blogging Burley has ever seen!)