If your children is off on their Year 6 residential trip soon, this post is for you. Hopefully you have all the information from your child’s school. These trips are usually based at an outward bound centre and involve your child having to take A LOT of luggage! Here are my tips for packing their backpacks and coping with their time away.
Audit their things against the kit list
Tick off what you already have and if possible, move it out of circulation at least a week before their year 6 residential trip, so you’re not faced with having to wash and dry loads of things at the last minute.
Try things on before their Year 6 residential trip
Things like wellies and gloves don’t get much use over the summer months, so just ask your child to do a quick try on to make sure you’re not sending them with things that are too small and will be uncomfortable for them to wear while they’re away.
Send a bag for wet clothing
The suggestion is usually to send named bin bags, which may do the job well, but I’d recommend sending a dry bag (we already have one that we use to transport wetsuits after a day in the sea). This will mean that all wet clothing can remain separate from the dry clothing, maybe resulting in a fraction less washing when the come home (but probably not, lol).
NAME EVERYTHING
If you want to stand a chance of at least some of your child’s possessions making it back home from their year 6 residential trip, make sure their name is on everything (even socks and pants). Having accompanied children on residential before and worked on sites where the children are boarding, the bedroom messes and muddles are real!
Even when they’re trying to be tidy, there’s always someone who’s misplaced a shoe and a child wearing the wrong jumper because they have the same one at home. It doesn’t matter if you use a sharpie, a stamper or spend hours lovingly sewing labels on everything, just get it named!
Pack with your child
Discuss the kit list with them and decide together, which of their coats will be best and how many pairs of trousers they will need etc. Lay everything out so they can see what they’re taking and if they’re taking any new items of clothing, be sure to get them to memorise what they look like. Everything should be named, but it also really helps if they can quickly identify their belongings at a glance because they days will be busy, long and full on.
I use packing cubes to separate types of clothing within the main bag e.g. one cube for underwear and pyjamas, one cube for socks, one cube for long sleeved tops and jumpers etc.
Expect radio silence while they’re on their year 6 residential trip
Being away from home for multiple nights is a big deal, even for children who are used to sleepovers. Emotions will be high, there will be homesick children and there will be completely over excited children (often the same children at different times of the day).
With the best will in the world, contact with home can often heighten these emotions and make it harder for the children to get stuck in with everything on offer. In this instance, no news is good news! If internet access and time allows, you may receive a photo update or two while they’re away, but however hard it might feel at the time, we need to hold on to the fact that we will hear aaaaaaaall about it for days and weeks and months after they return!
And finally…
Spare a thought for the teachers
The members of staff accompanying your child on their year 6 residential trip are giving up their own time to do so. Yes, they will get paid their usual salary, but there’s no extra pay for the early morning, evening and overnight work they volunteer for by going and no compensation for the time they miss with their own families and friends. They are in loco parentis and will be on high alert at all times, even during their rare and precious ‘down time’.
Don’t get me wrong, as a school teacher myself, the times I have been away with children have been amazing and I have felt extremely lucky to be able to accompany them on this fantastic rite of passage… but it always left me completely exhausted and with only minimal time to try and catch up on a week of sleep and life admin, before going back to work!
I hope your child has the best time on their residential, the time will fly and they will be home before you know it!
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