On 23September an excited coach load of seniorlanguage pupils set off for a jam acked long weekend of cultural activitiesand sightseeing in France. As Joanne Sykes, Head of MFL, explained, “Tripsabroad are such a fantastic opportunity for young people. Not just to hear thelanguage you are learning spoken all around you, but to have the opportunitiesto meet the people, eat the food and broaden your horizons. We need to give ourstudents an understanding of why the learning of a language is so important andnothing does this more than a visit abroad.

During the four day trip pupils had the opportunity to visit a chocolate factory and a snail farm (guess which one had the more popular taste testing!); they played petanque and shopped at a local market; experienced the underground trenches at the Vimy War Memorial and pedalled carts along old railway tracks. It was a fantastic four days and, coming right at the start of a school year, cemented some new friendships, created some unforgettable memories and hopefully inspired a love of languages too!

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