It has been a lovely day here on Day 2 of our residential. The children went to bed pretty well last night and slept soundly all night – in fact the hostel staff commented that we were the most chilled out morning group they had ever had!! Most children needed waking up at 7.30.

After breakfast, we made our own packed lunches and set off on our arty adventure day. First, we walked up the steep hill to The Leach Pottery where we learned about the founder, Bernard Leach, and were inspired by some of his tiles to create our own. Again, staff at the Pottery said that we were “a joy to work with” as we were so calm and creative. I think the children all really enjoyed the pottery workshop and their work was beautiful. It will be glazed and fired and posted to us in a few weeks.

We ate our lunch in the grounds of the Leach Pottery and then headed off to explore more art at Tate St Ives and The Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden. We really enjoyed mooching about and looking at the art although Mr Mason and I feel we have a bit more work to do in getting children to appreciate modern art – there was quite a lot of “what’s it meant to be??” and “I could do better than that!” 😂

We had a chill out back at the hostel before strolling down to the harbour to take the exhilirating Blue Thunder rib ride to Godrevy Lighthouse and Seal Island. After supper, we played board games and did jigsaw puzzles in the lounge until bedtime. It was a brilliant end to an awesome day. Here’s what the children said about the trip so far …

“The boat ride was one of the best things ever in my life.” Jess

“The speedboat ride was fun and thrilling.” Isabelle

“Making the tiles was really relaxing and we could be really creative.” Lexi

“The rib ride was really cool and I found it fascinating to see the seals up close.” Ellie Belle

“The pictures in the gallery were really exciting. My favourite was one that jumped to the rhythm of the music.” Brooke

“I thought I’d melt in the biomes yesterday!” Lillie

“The Leach Pottery was so interesting to explore how pots were made in the past.” Lenni-Jay

“I really loved the bridge in the rainforest biome.” Ayla

“The sculptures in the museum were very detailed. I loved the wooden village.” Alfie

“Though the tropical biome was amazing, I did actually prefer the mediterranean one because it was a bit cooler.” Oliver

“This was the best day of my life ever!” Harry