On Saturday, children at Beaudesert Park took part in our Armed Services morning as part of our Above and Beyond programme.

Over the course of the morning, children in Years 5 to 8 enjoyed a series of workshops themed around the armed services. This included a talk with Major Olly Snell, who described his journey from being a pupil here at Beaudesert, to flying Apache helicopters in Afghanistan as part of the Army Air Corps. Years 5 and 6 took part in some orienteering exercises, and worked as groups to fashion makeshift stretchers in their ‘rescue mission’ activity.

Meanwhile, Years 7 and 8 spent time with Chetenham’s CCF unit, learning how to build camps with the help of some Old Beaudesertians currently at Cheltenham College.

They also spent some time with two authentic military tanks, which had been driven into the School Courtyard, along with a 1953 Korean War jeep. The children learned how the scorpion and sabre tanks were used on the battlefield, and got the opportunity to ride on the tanks around the car park (very slowly!).

Our Above and Beyond programme takes place roughly once a term on a Saturday morning, where our Prep School children are given the opportunity to learn ‘above and beyond’ a certain topic. Previously, this has included a morning with wildlife expert Mike Dilger, workshops on resilience with public speaker Bart Gee and a morning with Masterchef finalist Andrew Kojima.