Wow Explorer Day at the Junior School

The Juniors ended their first week of term on a real high with their first Wow day of the year, learning all about explorers through a series of fun challenges, made even more exciting with a special visit from a real-life adventurer, Katy Parrott.  

An ex-Redmaid herself, Katy took centre stage in Friday’s assembly to give a truly inspiring talk about her stories of survival, and brave adventures from the great outdoors, from her travels around the world.  From high altitude mountaineering to Ironman triathlons, Katy had a captive audience as she shared some incredible achievements. She encouraged the girls to explore not only different places, by taking the opportunity to travel and experience different countries, but also to explore themselves – testing their limits, trying things to find out what they really love doing, and pursuing the things that excite them.   

The girls were bursting with enthusiasm and asked lots of questions, ranging from, What’s the most poisonous animal you’ve come across? and How did you manage to lose all your toe nails?, to the very pragmatic question of How do you make a living from being an explorer? She encouraged the girls to put themselves out of their comfort zone to take advantage of extraordinary and often unexpected experiences, that might come their way. 

The girls were asked to research a famous explorer and dress up as an explorer for the day and took part in lots of activities helping them to discover their own adventurous side, such as house orienteering, taking blindfolded directions and learning about French and English compass points, and even planning their own expeditions. 

The final challenge of the day ended with the girls taking part in a fun-filled ‘Staff adventures’ quiz where they were asked to try and match the type of real-life adventure with the member of staff.  To much surprise and delight of the pupils, adventures ranged from completing a two-day mountain marathon in the Lake District, sea kayaking and camping in Sweden, to taking a helicopter to the top of a glacier and snowboarding down it! It was a hugely successful and enjoyable day for pupils and staff alike, and hopefully, it was a Wow day that the girls won’t forget!