Gastronomic London - Day 5

Today pupils enjoyed making Mexican street food at the Central Street Cookery School. All of their profits are reinvested back into the local community, for whom they run subsidised and sometimes even free classes to help people acquire cookery skills. A lovely, relaxed end to a great week.

Tour du Mont Blanc - Day 5

We woke up next to a glacier on the French-Italian border to a beautiful sunrise illuminating the valley. Trekking a final 15km (mostly, thankfully, downhill) we reached Courmayeur in Italy, the end point of the tour. We've just eaten a celebratory - and much-needed pizza and are enjoying some long overdue showers before heading to Geneva airport. All being well, we will arrive in the UK (our fourth country of the day!) before 11pm. It's been a super, snowy trip. 

Leo and Theo attempt a jump shot

Iman and Ashleigh enjoy some well-earned rest underneath the south side of the Mont Blanc massif

Ardeche Final Day

Ok, So we're at the beach not in the Ardeche and the sun is shining!

Skern Lodge - Day 5

Great fun kayaking on our last day!

Swim Trek - Day 4

To mark the occasion of a 5.5km swim (or so we thought - it was actually 6km!), I attempted to boost the SwimTrekkers with Al Pacino's 'Inches' speech from 'Any Given Sunday'. This worked to an extent (at least they humoured me), but it was clear and understandable that nerves were very much present across the group. 

After a short bus ride, we jumped into lake Asainai and off we went! The group has naturally fallen into three groups based on ability, rhythm, and, in light of Mr Willingham and I spending time with all three, very different levels of 'banter', humour and entertainment! 

Both Mr Willingham and I have been blown away by the level of swimming across the group, but today was really an exceptional show of all the hard work that they've put in this week. The 'orange' group deserve a special mention; they've gone from strength to strength and swam in a perfectly tight formation for the full 6km. I was definitely kept in my place when leading the group and receiving frequent feedback on whether my speed was too fast or just right! 

All three groups met up on a jetty for a quick cup of hot chocolate, biscuits and gummy bears at around 2.5km before we set off for the final stretch (endless stretch that is!). The water was like glass today and some of the best conditions the SwimTrek guides have seen. We were also told the lake had good energy; a point met with slight disdain, which was promptly rebuked by all upon completion of the swim. We all fell into a sort of trance and lost in our own thoughts as we powered through the final 3km. 

To celebrate the end of the swim, and the end of our swims for the week, we all ate a tremendous amount of quesadillas and drank a lot of water! A relaxing evening of beach volleyball, packing and sleep is now on the agenda! 

London Multi Sports - Day 5

Today is Mr Lewis's favourite day as we hit Surbiton race track for go karting!  This photo was taken 5 minutes in and he has already been warned for dangerous driving!

Yorkshire Dales Day 5 - ETA 5.30-6pm

Pupils cleaned up the centre this morning and then headed out to enjoy some final climbing on the high ropes and even got a bit of sunshine. The coach will be picking us up around midday, so with good traffic we should be back at school between 5 and 6pm.

London Multi Sports - Day 4

Today was Paintballing in Cobham. New overalls and new guns were exciting, the amount of mud was less so!

Bushcraft Day 4

Today was our last full day at the campsite. The pupils cooked breakfast on the fire again and some were using their foraging skills to make nettle tea amongst other things. After breakfast the children could choose to either learn how to make a spoon in knife craft or learn how to use weapons to hunt. 

After lunch we had Bushcraft Olympics - it was a fantastic chance for the students to show us the skills they had learnt over the week.

ALL TRIPS

MESSAGE TO ALL PARENTS: ALL TRIPS
Please be assured that your son or daughter will be asked to contact you directly if their ETA back at school changes significantly.

Morocco - Day 4

Today students spent the day volunteering at a school in the village of Lamzaya. They helped with gardening , classroom painting, and concrete laying, among other things.

It was lovely to see everyone getting on so well with the children (despite the language barrier). They played games, painted faces, danced and there were some tears when we had to leave.

Next we visited the beautiful town of Almina and had a guided tour from some of the teachers from the school. Then back to the hotel in Tangiers for dinner and a well deserved rest. 

UKSA Day 4

Getting tied up in knots!

Surfing in Cornwall Day 4

Surfing in Cornwall had a full, fantastic day of surfing yesterday; we think everyone successfully stood up at least once! The coach departed at 9.15am this morning and is aiming to be back at around 2.30pm. 

More updates on twitter from @Haineslatymer.

Paris - Day 4 - ETA 6pm

Jour numéro quatre a Paris, et maintenant nous parlons couramment le Français (avec un petit peu d'aide). 

The concerning lack of pupils at obnoxious-o'clock-teacher-led-boot-camp continues, but the engagement and enthusiasm for eating is still palpable: peculiar and concerning behaviour from teenagers... we'll have to hand this mystery over to the parents! 

After we flip-reversed the morning's activities from yesterday (so that everyone had a chance to visit a bakery and do a cooking course), we headed to the Jardine Luxembourg where there were sights, sounds, atmosphere and a bucket load of rain. 

After another short jaunt on our much loved coach, we arrived at the Eiffel Tower for a boat tour along the Seine in - and this sentence should not be taken lightly - some glorious sunshine! The irresistible allure of a childish perspective photo with the eiffel tower proved too much for Mr. Birchmore and Mr. Seymour, but, luckily there were some pupils on hand to roll their eyes and disown them appropriately. 

Then, the inevitable question... How do you end such a wonderful week in Paris? Food... Food is the answer! More specifically, a wonderful meal in a lovely Parisian restaurant followed by a coach disco and an impromptu - and disconcertingly brilliant given the quality of the mic and speakers - a cappella session by Sody on the coach home; Mr. Birchmore's enthusiastic rendition of Whitney's "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" was also worthy of note... but for very different reasons!