French Trip Day Four
By the time of writing, your children will either still be talking incessantly to you or - more likely- are sound asleep in bed. The 2024 French trip went so quickly, and so much was packed into four days.
And today was no exception. The children were all roused for a final breakfast of croissants, pain au chocolate and French bread, and instructions were given. In a nutshell, these were, “pack your suitcase, put it outside your room and clean every single bit of rubbish/food/underwear from under the bed .” Actually, there was another one - “put your swimming costume and towel in a separate bag, not in your suitcase.” Once suitcases were all outside rooms, staff began room inspections. Usually these started with the suggestion of cracking a window open, as some of the rooms smelled less than fragrant. One room, which had housed three girls, required the hotel’s large dustpan and brush in order to make headway into the mess. Once rooms were emptied and clear, and everything had been loaded onto the coach, a fond farewell was said to Fanny, Mister Bed’s lovely manageress who has been hosting St Michael’s School French trips for many years.
Fanny, who is known to call a spade a spade, said that this year’s group of children was the best school group she has had all year. She was very complimentary about your children’s manners and behaviour.
Once we had checked that we had 51 passports and relevant documents, it was time to say au revoir to Mister Bed, and Berck sur mer. A short coach ride took us to our swimming destination, which was on a Center Parcs-type holiday village. The children sat down outside for a short while while we talked through safety and procedure - as they then stood up to enter the building, some underwear was spotted on the ground. Nobody claimed ownership. In the queue, we noticed that one pupil had no bag with him. Where was his towel etc? we wondered. Yes, you are quite right - it was in his suitcase in the coach. He had thoughtfully put his swimming trunks on under his shorts, but underwear for the journey home was also in his suitcase, so it was a travelling home commando situation. Instructions are given for a reason…..
This was the first time we had tried this pool, and there were a couple of organisational hiccups for the first few minutes, but with the purchase of some extra adult swimming costumes (to meet their very strict adult to child ratio), all was well. There were some strange rules - staff were not allowed to take a bag through to the pool area, and when we explained about asthma inhalers, medication etc we were told we could take those through, but not the bag. It wasn’t clear what it was about the bag that they found so offensive, but we duly balanced inhalers and medication in our arms and staggered through to the pool. (Rather bizarrely, towels were also banned from poolside. But only for some people. Others were allowed to take their towel with them. Who are we to question the logic?)
The next rule was that each member of staff had to accompany 8 children in the water - however the adult must enter the water first, followed by 8 children jumping in, and the adult must exit the water first, followed by 8 children climbing out. The analogy of a mother duck and her ducklings came to mind, but we abided by the rules in the outside pools until the wind (yes it was still windy) made it too chilly and we took refuge in the indoor pools. Your children showed incredible patience and resilience while our entry to the pools had been delayed - there was no complaining, just good humour. They then had two hours to throw themselves down the water slides, jump the HUGE waves when the wave machine was operated (this was more of a violent tsunami) and credit is due to the valiant staff who were battered by deep water, or hit on the head by a flying ball during boisterous games of catch in the waves. Any notion of supervising from the seating area around the pool with a nice cafe au lait were completely unrealistic - we really do appreciate the team’s efforts as swimming is not everyone’s favourite thing.
After a quick shower and change into underwear (not everyone, obviously) and travelling home clothes, it was time for lunch. After two hours of very energetic time in the water, everyone was starving and the restaurant on the site, overlooking a lovely lake, was perfect. This, again, was a new find for the French trip, and was a great success. Once everyone had been fed and watered, a quick toilet trip was needed before heading to the coach for the journey back to Coquelles for le shuttle. Ah yes, the toilet trip…. one of the last boys to use the facilities, then became locked in. There was much drama and flapping, as the children passed on the message that someone was locked in the toilet - Madame Betteridge was back on the coach with the majority of the pupils, so it fell to another member of staff to look up the French word for screwdriver, whilst Mr Bird talked to the young man from Year 6 who was stuck in the toilet. Whilst the restaurant staff tried to find a screwdriver (“tournevis” in case you were wondering), Mr Bird encouraged the young man to try the door again. After a couple of attempts, the lock was turned (actually quite easily) and a discussion was had about not trying to open doors with oversized hoodie sleeves hanging over your hands.
And so it was time for the final journey in France, back to Coquelle for the shuttle. We had time to kill, and wanted the children to stretch their legs, so had a quick trip to Carrefour in Citieurope - the children seemed to thoroughly enjoy spending the last of their Euros on an eclectic mixture of items. Sweets had been banned on this occasion, so the purchases of choice seemed to be stationary and wastepaper baskets. None of the staff are entirely sure why.
Passport control was much smoother than we had envisaged and we sailed through, ready to board the train in good time. Once underway, it becomes very hot on a coach in the tunnel, so we all left the coach and sat in the adjoining area. Many of the children occupied themselves with clapping and pat-a-cake games and as we’ve mentioned before, it has been fantastic to see everyone entertaining themselves without the need for devices.
Back on the coach, there was a cheer once we disembarked and everyone realised they were back in England. It is traditional on the French trip for awards to be given - the team spend the four days watching, observing and jotting notes. Your child has come home with a certificate of some sort - these range from best dressed at dinner, to most savvy shopper in the market, to ‘best wearer of bling. “ These caused lots of giggles and cheers.
A special award was given to Mrs Ingram, who was on her first ever French trip, and has thrown herself into everything wholeheartedly. One of our lasting memories will be of Mrs Ingram on the flying chair ride at Bagatelle yesterday, whizzing around in the air with her arms outstretched.
Before we knew it, we were approaching school. To our amazement, very few Year 6s slept on the journey home - your children have incredible reserves of energy - and the mood was still full of fun and lively. The mammoth task of unloading the coach was completed, children united with parents and any tears were those of tiredness. Everyone has had the time of their life, and a great week with personal growth in so many ways.
The team have returned to their own families, and everyone will need lots of sleep. Our huge thanks to your wonderful children, a great team of staff, and the legend that is Madame Betteridge for her incredible organisation and huge amounts of work in arranging these trips each year.
The 2024 French Trip has come to an end - but the memories will be there forever.
Sleep well.