Cal Mata Colonias
Written by Hannah Tait
It is May 2023 and time to take some of Primary to Cal Mata in Banyeres del Penedes for their colonias.
Only 30 minutes from school, the old 18th-century country house owned by the Mata family was the setting for our younger children to enjoy their overnight Colonias.
Marta Mata, the owner of the property, was a teacher who taught teachers and donated the property to colonias style days and weeks for children to continue her legacy in the area.
Now this old house provides safe spaces for children to explore and make memories, surrounded by pine trees, Saifores is a small area in the municipality of Banyeres del Penedes. With Fidel’s Garden in front of the house and a forest only 200 metres from the house, the children had plenty to entertain them.
Colonias provider is Descoberta and they work between 4 colonias houses, all with different themes, this consistency means the teams are super prepared for colonias and make every second count.
We arrived Monday morning and the first part of the day was spent looking around the house, enjoying the gorgeous views with some nice fresh weather. After this, the children watched the Catalan version of Red Riding Hood followed by lunch which was very tasty. The children laid the tables and cleared up afterwards.
In the afternoon was the much-anticipated circus training…where they learnt to spin plates, swing on a trapeze and walk on a low rope with the team of monitors.
There was also much free play time in the walled garden, so everyone felt very safe. There were tree trunks for stepping stones, a wobbly bridge, and many adventures in the sand pits.
Dinner was very well thought through, tasty and healthy! All food allergies and tolerances were taken care of. Then it was time for the night hunt with torches and story time before they went to bed in the dormitories which ran alongside the play area.
Tuesday morning was the circus performance, in which the monitors performed and entertained the kids. The show involved all the children and the team were dressed up as clowns which made us all laugh.
The monitors were fabulous with the kids and worked together as a cohesive team, they worked all year round as monitors and provided a super safe space, were polite, kind and made the children feel safe and entertained.
All the teachers enjoyed the circus the most, the smiles on the children’s faces and laughing with the monitors illustrated how much fun they were having.
“I was very proud of all the children. I chatted with the main monitor to express our thanks for their hard work and enthusiasm. In return he said to me, "The Olive Tree had been a gift, so polite and well behaved. What he was most impressed by was how they have each other’s backs, they help each other and support each other, we very rarely see that!” Hannah
“A wonderful end of year school trip, thoroughly enjoyed by all children. It was a fantastic opportunity for the children to spend quality time together outside of the classroom. The monitors and Colonias house took very good care of the children and they made this an enjoyable experience for them. The children were excellent representatives of The Olive Tree School and we could not be prouder of them.” Josh