Year 1 and Year 2 have had beach trips in the past week. The big day out at the seaside was as a reward to the children for working so hard. The transition to Year 1 can be a major move, whilst Year 2 involves a great amount of work towards the end of year SATS. Plus the teachers deserved a reward as we come towards the end of another hectic, but enjoyable, school year.

Year 1's beach trip was to Greatstone on the Kent coast. The children had been looking forward to this day for weeks. "I was so excited on Sunday evening, I nearly fell out of my bed!" said Arlia. "We came to school at 8:30. We didn't want to miss the coach. It took us an hour and a half to get to the beach.

"When we arrived, we got off the coach and went to the beach," said Alex. "We took our shoes and socks off. The sand tickled my feet. We were all so hungry; we decided to have lunch on the beach. We changed into our swimming clothes and then played. We dug a really big hole. Other children made some sand castles."

No Michael Faraday beach trip would be complete without the traditional mass splashing around in the waves. "The best part of the day was when we went into the sea," said Elizabeth. "The water was cold but it felt nice. The adults stood in front of us so that we didn't go in too far. I saw a shark! But it was Eden's toy shark!"

There was still time for some learning at the beach: "Jacqui told us it was time to have a literacy lesson," said Arlia. "We believed her, but she was only joking! We had some more time splashing in the sea instead. The coach was much quieter on the way home. Most of the children (and some adults!) fell asleep."

The children have been remembering their beach trip back in the classroom by making some collages of their big day out. Year 1 painted a beach backdrop, and then placed some photos of themselves at Greatstone splashing around in the sea.

Less than a week later and the Michael Faraday summer fun bus rolled out of Portland Street once again, this time with Year 2 beach bound. The Kent coast was the destination, with Westgate beach chosen this time.

"I felt really excited when Natasha told us we were going to go on a beach trip," said Isabel. "When I got home I got out all the things I needed for the beach! The journey to the beach took two hours. We had to leave school really early. The coach was really comfortable. We played some games during the journey. Shemuel was good at Eye- Spy."

"I spotted the sea from the coach," said Shemuel. "It looked really blue and clean. The sky was also blue. It must have been reflecting down on the sea. We ran to the beach, but the sand was getting in our feet. I found a large piece of chalk. I wrote a secret message on a rock. We had a fantastic picnic on the beach. It was our favourite day of the school year!"

"It started to rain slightly," said Jacob. "This made the sand all wet. It was fun running around on this. We were all so tired and now it was time to go home. We were lucky because our coach had a TV! We watched Flushed Away on the way home. Everyone was quiet."