Seventeen pupils travelled to the beautiful city of Nice for a week of French lessons and sight-seeing. The trip provided a valuable cultural experience and a confidence boost for Fourth Form pupils in their first year of the IGCSE course, and for Fifth Form pupils ahead of their November mocks.
The French Riviera has a lot to offer. Besides five half-days of lessons in small groups of six, and the cultural and linguistic adventure of living in host families, pupils enjoyed a variety of activities under a balmy sun (and a couple of impressive thunderstorms): a boat trip along the coast, a visit to the stunning village of Eze and its perfume factory where pupils created their own cologne; a guided tour of the old town of Monaco; an introduction to Segway and a bike trip along the famous Promenade des Anglais.
The evenings were busy with visits to the cinema and the bowling alley, as well as drinks and nibbles at the Hard Rock Café. Pupils were keen to show off their ball skills in the local park and square, but the sporting highlight of the week was seeing PSG play the local team OCG Nice in the impressive Allianz Stadium, which we had visited just a few days earlier.
This year our visit to see orcas and dolphins at Antibe’s Marineland was followed by a day in beautiful Saint Tropez, where Mr Halstead, the father of three Oundelians, and his family organised a walk around town, a visit to the Annonciade museum, an impromptu cricket match on Place des Lices (certainly a first given the reaction of the locals) and a delicious dinner at L’Annexe.
L Brighton
