France 2023

In June, we had the pleasure of hopping across the channel for our fabulous year 7 residential trip to France. After months of planning, 64 students and 7 staff all boarded the coach with the now famous Gregg, our driver and set off early on Monday 12th June to head for the town of  Rue, around 90 minutes drive from Calais. Excited and nervous, many of our students hadn’t travelled away from home alone before so we were ready for an adventure. Our journey was smooth and a big improvement from last year was there were no delays. 

Our base is the lovely old Château where we are looked after by local staff. Each day we had planned activities which started with an early start on our first day to travel to Euro Disney in Paris. Amazing fact number 1 from our trip: Year 7s know how to get up on time.  In the sunshine we enjoyed the rides and attractions, with many students coming home with Mickey hats and Lilo and Stitch toys. The following days offered the opportunity to practise French with visits to a French market, French café and a chocolate factory. Particularly poignant was the visit to the war cemetery at Thiepval, and the famous Lochnagar crater which all the students found moving and a valuable reminder of the terrible cost of conflict. After the evening activities led by Château staff there was a chance to have some down time or outdoor socialising on our lawn before bedtime.

We were super lucky with brilliant weather and good health across our large group. Amazing fact number 2 from our trip: there was very little sickness on the bus.  We were thrilled that everyone was able to have a great time and return home safely. The Year 7s were extremely well behaved and entered into the spirit of the trip, practising their French skills and getting stuck into all the activities. They were a credit to our school as we travelled away from home.

Thank you to the pupils for making it such a fun and educational time. Thank you to parents and carers for getting their young people ready for the trip. Thank you to the staff team for their support in keeping everything running smoothly and working with me to patrol the corridors late at night to make sure everyone got off to  a good night’s sleep.

Mrs Anderson, trip leader.