Primary school pupils from the north of the island have enjoyed a week exploring north Wales.

The 12 pupils, aged 10 and 11 went ’back to basics’ staying in a simple bunk house, half a mile from the nearest road, with limited electricity and no phone signal.

Jurby School head teacher Will Nelson said: ’The children were forced to abandon their electronic lifestyle, and instead to focus on more basic needs including water preservation.

’The heat wave had nearly exhausted the bunk house’s water supply, so the children needed to conserve water, carry in drinking water, and carry back out with them all their rubbish.

’This brought home issues around how wasteful we are as a society and what we can all do to cut down on waste.’

Because of the weather, the planned trip to the summit of Glyder Fawr was changed to a walk through the lower parts of Snowdon.

During their walk, they enjoyed a cooling off in a river and got to sit under a waterfall.

They later completed a two-day expedition canoeing along the Llangollen Canal.

During the expedition they canoed over the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, the longest navigable aqueduct in the UK and the highest in the world.

They also canoed through two tunnels, one of which is nearly half a kilometre in length.

The children even had a chance to canoe across the English/Welsh border after going down the Chirk Aqueduct.

For this trip, the pupils have spent the last 12 months working with Ardwhallan Outdoor Education Centre .

The outdoor centre helped them develop their understanding of the outdoors, team work, resilience and problem solving.

Mr Nelson said: ’The children returned home at the end of the trip tired, but all expressed a desire to go again.

’Many said it was the best week of their lives and would encourage everybody to go and experience the great outdoors.’

Mr Nelson also extended his thanks, of behalf of the school and the pupils to Paul Melling.

He said: ’Not only for organising and ensuring that it all took place safely, but all the enthusiasm they have given the children over the past school year to prepare them for this great expedition into the wild.’

Ardwhallan is a charity that works with schools and children.

For more information, email [email protected], ring 853711 or online at www.ardwhallan.im.