With the update of our website we didn’t have an end of term news in March so I’m including a couple of things from last term too. It feels like yesterday anyway and this last term has flown by!
55 pupils went to Astún with Kathryn, Matt, Rich, Eduardo and Juan. We had great weather and snow so made the most of every minute on the slopes- lots of skiing, snow-boarding and sledging. The monitors were all lovely and the pupils made great progress and had lots of fun. They had 2 hours of classes and three hours of free skiing, accompanied by monitors at all times. The monitors also did an evening activity with us. We went into Jaca to see the deer in the castle moat, bowling and playing arcade games. In Candanchu we had a disco where the pupils danced the last evening away.
46 pupils went to London in March with Kathryn, Thomas, Claire, Leah and Rich. The Premier Inn was lovely as usual with plentiful English food. In the Science museum we went to the new wonder-lab for hands on investigations in science and maths. The rocket show taught us about Newton’s laws of motion and how to blow things up. We had ice cream in Hyde Park and made friends with the police. We fought in World War II on HMS Belfast and dressed up in the Victoria and Albert Museum. We walked miles over Tower Bridge to the Tower of London and to Buckingham Palace. We soared to heights on the London Eye to see the sights. We sang and danced in the West End Theatre production of Mamma Mia! A great time was had by all.
Year 10 went to Gredos in April to brush-up on their biology and geography fieldwork skills and to do some adventure sports too. Despite the weather everyone got involved, learning useful techniques, which hopefully have convinced some of our students to go on to be the biologists and geographers of the future. After being able to determine the difference between a cased caddis fly larva and a water boatman, they were ready for home.
Year 9 went to Mar Menor on a watersports trip. They had several instructors helping them learn and practice the skills they needed and they were given a lot of freedom to enjoy and try out each sport. In the evening they had games and team building activities arranged for them by the monitors and on the last night there was a disco. It was a great trip and every student experienced something special and memorable.
Year 7 went to Layos Camp. They spent three days doing a combination of team building skills and outdoor activities such as canoeing, horse-riding, nature walks, zip lining, hockey and archery. In addition they played some hilarious campfire games, watched some spectacular sunsets and of course celebrated the last night with a disco and the obligatory limbo competition.
As usual, each class in the Secondary department did lots of fundraising activities. This term we raised money in a football match for the University of Bradford Burns Unit, a non-uniform day for the Manchester relief fund and for children in Syria. We also had numerous non-uniform days, funny hat days, bake sales, secret cinemas and the talent show for our sponsored children in Nicaragua.
Of course, we still had time to do lots of work and well done everyone for finishing their exams in good spirits during the biggest heat wave in 50 years. It was boiling!
