We are planning to take a group of Year 7 students on a day trip to Boulogne in Northern France on the Friday of Activities week this year. There is no specific upper limit on the number of pupils who can particiapte in the trip:hopefully we will be able to take all who want to come.
This is a trip that has been run many times before by the school in the past and although the trip is short, we still feel it is beneficial as for many of our students it represents their only chance to visit France and to see at first hand things that they have learnt about in cho want to come. Despite the short nature of the trip, students will need to be entered onto a group passport which increases both the expense for parents and the workload involved for staff.
The coach leaves Leicester at midnight on the Thursday evening and after a few minutes of excitement, students are strongly encouraged to sleep (we even suggest that they bring a pillow!) which means that most manage 5-6 hours of sleep before we arrive in Dover early on Friday morning.
The ferry crossing takes approximately 2 hours and whilst students are allowed to explore the boat, they are NOT allowed on deck without a member of staff and they are never allowed to be alone, they must stay in groups of 3 and the slightest silliness results in having to sit next to a member of staff for the duration of the crossing! Nevertheless this remains a very enjoyable part of the experience for many as it is often students’ first trip on a sea ferry.
During the morning in Boulogne the party is split into groups of about 8 with a member of staff and will complete a series of challenges whilst visiting the old town, the old city walls and shops and cafés in the town. If the weather is pleasant we will eat lunch on the beach.
We will leave Boulogne at around 2 o’clock in the afternoon to travel back to the port. Although this may seem early, coach drivers’ regulations mean that with 2 drivers per coach the trip can only last 21 hours, longer than this a 3rd driver would be necessary at a cost of £6 per pupil. We are keen to keep costs to a minimum in order that as many students as possible might be able to participate and have already subsidised the cost out of money available for Activities Week. In addition, our past experience has told us that with a later departure than this, students often become too tired to fully appreciate the return trip.
This should be a fun trip and we are really looking forward to it!
Mrs J Gardiner
Joint Head of Languages
Miss, the pictures look very good.
Posted by: Trikul M | 01/15/2009 at 10:02 PM