Pupils of Castletown Primary School broadened their horizons with a virtual adventure all the way across the Atlantic.

With schools being closed, a traditional end-of-term trip was out of the question. Instead, this unique term was marked by organising a whole-school outing with educational activities spread over three days.

Prior to the virtual trip, not having been told exactly where they were going, to keep the suspense up, children had a number of tasks to carry out – make a plane to fly them over the ocean, design a healthy packed lunch and complete a special passport.

With excitement mounting, on trip day they found out they were going to SeaQuest in America – a large aquarium with lots of other animals too. On their virtual flight over they had plenty of time to decide which animals they wanted to see and to organise a schedule for their visit.

While there, they learned about their chosen animals through interactive videos and fact sheets. The sloths, kinkajou and axolotl proved very popular.

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Souvenirs were downloaded (the masks were a favourite), coloured and cut out, before postcards were written to friends and family, telling of an unforgettable day.

Having returned safely and had a good night’s sleep, pupils then created artwork inspired by their trip – ranging from paintings to collage to clay models, acrostic poems about some of the animals they had seen and a field report telling of what they had learned.

The trip was well received by parents, with one saying that her children had had a great time learning about the animals and that it was lovely that it was something they could all do together. For teachers it was an added bonus to have a trip with no risk assessment to be completed, no anxiety about the weather or worry about who was likely to be travel sick.

Head teacher Rhona Moodie said: “I am always impressed with how the teachers manage to pull whole-school events together and the ideas that are brought forward. It is a definite strength in our school.

"This has been a perfect end to the year in a way that brings the whole school together again, even if it has only been virtually. The children have obviously enjoyed it and put lots of effort into the event.

"Thank you to the pupils, families and teachers for making this a huge success.”

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