LAST month year five children went to Carlton Lodge Activity Centre at Carlton Miniott, near Thirsk.

The children were dropped off at Carlton Miniott Primary School and began a walk to the centre.

They were briefed on the activities they were going to do.

The 30 children were then split into groups - with a teacher and instructor to each group of ten children. The groups swapped places after each activity.

Mark Poole, the headteacher, did raft building and kayaking with his group on the small, three-metre deep lake, while the other groups got the dry options and did the huge "confidence" course and the "put on your thinking caps" initiative tasks.

After completing the day's tasks, the children were introduced to their accommodation, four or five to a room.

They then ate an appetising meal and spent the evening playing football, watching a video and having a duvet party at 11pm, while listening to a mystery story.

Children and teachers alike had an almost sleepless night, but it was no slacking as there were more tasks to do in the morning.

When the children woke up at 5am they played board games to amuse themselves and spent this free time with friends.

Some children started off the day with a full English cooked breakfast.

The activities on the second day were just as exciting as on the first.

The now very tired youngsters climbed a massive imitation rock wall and abseiled down a tree, while waving and singing songs - Mr Poole sang I'm a Barbie Girl.

They had great fun using maps and finding numbers during orienteering - and were ten times better than Robin Hood when it came to archery.

After the whole two days everyone was exhausted.