In February 2007, around 60 pupils from years 8 to 11 went skiing in La Grand Bornard located in the French Alps. We stayed in a lovely hotel with all the mod cons and an empty swimming pool. The rooms were basic but cosy with an all wooden interior that felt very alpine. The food wasn’t to all tastes but the teachers seemed to really enjoy it. The games room proved to be an outstanding venue for socialising with the very friendly French community.

The quality of the snow varied from place to place. At the hotel there was very little snow compared to on some slopes where there was a thick covering. We even had to ski on mud on some occasions. The snow park was thoroughly enjoyable unless you were Dr. Whiting who took a bit of a bash to the nose when attempting a slightly ambitious jump. On the last day of skiing, all of the boys and teachers had a race on the border cross. Louis won with an outstanding performance and everybody gave it a good go.

However, it was not all fun and games for some. We had the odd broken arm and torn ligament and some teachers even got stuck in chairlifts and caught a nasty bout of man flu. Luckily Mademoiselle Andre was there to sort us all out.

We had great fun in the evenings with various activities such as ice skating and bowling. The hat of shame was announced every night at dinner for the most shameful act of the day. Winners included a year 8 pupil who said ‘merci’ to a girl he had just knocked over and another boy who sadly was not as good a skier as he thought he was.

The trip was really fun and was enjoyed by everyone.

By George Paul and Thomas Diamond 8BN