On Friday 30th May we went on our school tour to Millstreet Country Park. We arrived at 10am and from then on it was a hectic day of activities. Firstly, all the pupils participated in an obstacle course, with 2 teams competing against each other. The course was challenging but great fun.
The next activity was pond dipping. The pupils were given nets, identification charts and water trays. They had to see how many creatures they could find and then they had to identify them.
After that the pupils had a duck race, where they cheered on their own ducks as they journey down the fast flowing stream. All were shouting and screaming at their ducks, both pupils and staff alike.
When lunch was finished the pupils had a treasure hunt around the grounds. They had to solve clues and look for hidden letters. Then at the end of the treasure hunt, the pupils had to un-jumble the letters and form the name of an animal found on the grounds of the park.
The last activity of the day was a trip to the crannog. The word comes for the irish for “young tree”. They pupils learnt a lot about these early farmers. Crannogs date back to 4,000BC, They were built on artifical islands in a lake. The pupils then learnt how the crannogs were built, how different types of trees were used, the willow for bending and weaving poles and the ash for solid struts. They also heard stories about how the farmers herded their cattle on to the island every evening.
Then we ended day with well deserved ice creams! Everybody arrived back at the school wrecked but with great memories.
The duck race was really fun, I wanted to do it again!! ;P