Last week saw the Year 4’s accompanied by Mrs Ball, Miss Miller, Mr Greenhall, Harvey and Kieran set off for their an educational trip to Pin Mill and Woolverstone Marina to back up our study of Arthur Ransome’s classic story of “We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea”.

Firstly we met the volunteers from the Nancy Blackett Trust, we then looked out across the River Orwell and tried to spot the Nancy’s mast in the marina whilst all the time admiring the stunning scenery. The children all enjoyed a carousel of activities from boarding Nancy (a replica boat of the Goblin from the story), to learning about forms of communication through the use of flags and semaphore codes. The shoreline walk from the marina along to Pin Mill was enjoyed by all as we stopped along the route to spot birds, recognise different trees and look at the different types of boats on the river and in the harbour.

The walk was followed up with some old fashioned children’s activities just like the Walker children enjoyed in the book – paddling in the shallow channels, ‘Poohsticks’, swinging on the tyre and rope swings and skimming stones. All of Year 4 arrived back full of tales to share with one another and felt quite exhausted after an exciting day out by the water.