This year saw the largest group of Year 9 pupils yet cross the Channel and travel to Normandy, France. Pupils visited the Château de la Baudonnière from the 14^th to 20^th June for a week’s immersion in the French language. Canoeing, climbing, archery, fencing and bread making were only some of the activities in which they engaged and all were conducted exclusively in French.

The château, constructed in the late 19^th century, provided an authentic French backdrop to the experience. All activities took place within the château's beautiful grounds at various sites which had been developed using the natural features. The woods surrounding the château were the perfect setting for the parcours de santé, an assault course, which ended very muddily in the river running through the grounds.

Pupils ate home-cooked French food which added to the unique French experience. They sat together at tables for meals, under the watchful eye of Jaime, the cacahuètes shouting parrot. They also visited the French market at Dinan and the Mont Saint Michel, having a picnic lunch in a secluded little park in Dinan itself. The weather was glorious and the trip was more successful than ever. Pupils came back exhausted, but enriched and enlivened by the experience.