Hosts and Guests

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Today, we were really excited to host some English schoolchildren from Saffron Walden who came to find out about us, our lessons and what we do here at CAE Moreton Hall.

It was such fun in class

They are all more or less the same age as us and joined in with our lessons and activities. In English class we enjoyed a food tasting lesson about British foods such as custard (delicious), mustard, (disgusting), pickled onions (very sour and a bit spicy) and Monster Munch (yummy). We did some archery, using long bows, recurve bows and compound bows and then played a big game of obstacle rounders. It was intense and competitive with lots of running and sliding.

We finished the day with a great game of ultimate frisbee. Most of us had never used a frisbee before so it was difficult … however, it was so much fun.

Flumes, Tunes & Afternoons

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It was a big surprise when we started the day, not with a lesson, but with a trip to the pool. We had a fantastic time with Jake and Becky, splashing about with the floats and rushing down the flume slides. We got back to school ready for Sunday brunch, with sausages and bacon, hash browns, fried eggs and beans. After lunch on this upside-down day we had English classes. Becky gave us a brilliant lesson all about British music. We talked about our favourite pop stars and listened to famous musicians like Pink Floyd, The Beetles, Adele, Ed Sheeran, Clean Bandit, Queen, Spice Girls, The Who, Oasis and David Bowie – some of the most well-known bands and singers in the world.

Afterwards, we started work on our fashion show outfits, designing t-shirts and bandanas. You can see some of our first efforts in the pictures here, and we’ll be showing them off finally in the Grand Fashion Show at the end of the week. In the evening, once we’d cleared away the dinner things we played lots of funny games indoors, like “pass the parcel” and “pass the pigs”.

Indoors Fun

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Today was our first rainy day at Moreton Hall. The air is fresher and we played badminton and dodgeball in the sports hall. Later in the day we went to the art room and did some pastel work, inspired by Mondrian and Kandinsky.

At the end of the day we spent the evening competing to build the largest marshmallow tower and the strongest bridge. We had two teams, so it was Boys v Girls! The girls’ tower was the tallest, but the boys built the strongest bridge. So for tonight at least, the score’s one all.

Cambridge Trip

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Today, we travelled to the centre of Cambridge by double-decker bus. After lunch on Jesus Green we walked down King’s Parade, where we saw the famous Corpus Clock, Trinity College, St John’s, King’s College and King’s College Chapel. Later, we went punting along the “Backs”, where the river flows behind other Colleges as well, such as Queen’s, Magdalene College and Clare’s College. We went under the unique Mathematical Bridge and Cambridge’s very own Bridge of Sighs. Our punt “chauffeur” was brilliant, and throughout the punting trip she told us stories about the history of Cambridge University’s various colleges.

When we got back to Moreton Hall, Chef Paul taught us how to make our own pizzas for dinner. We all chose different toppings and Chef Paul put them in the oven for us and awarded prizes for the first and second best. The winners were Ewa and Rainbow. In the evening we were pretty tired and wound down from the busy day, chilling and playing Uno, chess and Old Maid, a traditional British children’s card game, and making loom bands.

Hot, Hot and Hot

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Today in class we learnt about personality adjectives, such as “clever”, “cheeky” and “creative”. Also, we had a lesson to prepare us for our excursion to Cambridge tomorrow. We are all looking forward to Cambridge.

In the afternoon, we went out to play some tennis, but it was too hot. So later we went inside to the sport centre to play a new sport called netball. It was really challenging.

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Our evening activity was bowling. This became very competitive and the person with the highest score was Taleb, who scored 120. The winning house was “Moreton & Lofty” with 492, while the “Next Gen Kids” scored 450.

Enjoying the Sun

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Enjoying the sun, under some lovely apple trees.

Today, we enjoyed fabulous weather. One group did sketches of nature and the others went inside and learned how to play hockey.

Later, we played a similar game to handball, it was very hot. For the last 30 minutes, we played a match and the final score was 15-14. The day wrapped up with a big treasure hunt. We were given various hints to find hidden flags. Some of us learnt new flags.

  • Looking for Spain
  • Found Germany
  • Hint: Big, Brown and Green

First Full Day at Moreton Hall

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Before lunch, we played various mini games with our new group of friends

  • Group Photo
  • Moving on the bench without falling
  • Big Noughts & Crosses
  • Football

After lunch, we split into two groups, one group painting and the other playing badminton. Afterwards, we learned how to play cricket, the most traditional of English sports.

Finally, we ended the day designing our new house logos and competing in the house photo challenge. We’ll post a special gallery of the best later – we promise you’ll be really impressed!

New Arrivals Arrive!

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The students enjoying the full 4-week programme went to Norwich on Saturday for shopping in the historic Royal Arcade and to walk around the unusual market and castle gardens. On Sunday morning we went for a stroll to Bury St Edmunds to make the most of the beautiful scenery and learn more of the local history.

After lunch our new friends began to arrive. We played lots of games such as the catch and name game, the blind maze and finally, a form of netball.