A fabulous week at Château de la Baudonnière for Year 7 and 8 pupils on the French Trip

Pupils from Year 7 and 8 had a fabulous week at Château de la Baudonnière in Normandy during the Easter holidays for a week of total immersion in French. 

The week was packed full of activities which were all in French. This meant that if the children (and staff) wanted to take part they had to communicate in French in order to be able to do so!  Everyone entered into the spirit of the holiday and did their very best. 

The children were absolutely fantastic! They seemed to thoroughly enjoy getting into the rural French culture and they all worked so hard to master both the vocabulary as well as all the physical skills demanded with each of the outdoor and indoor challenges. They worked wonderfully in small groups and it was amazing to see them help and encourage each other. The tremendously varied programme saw them getting both hilariously muddy on a tricky obstacle course and then visiting an authentic French street market where they had to barter (in French) for the items they wanted. They learnt how fence and how not to get lost in the woods following a series of French directions. They also learnt how to care for and milk a goat! On another outing, the children visited a wonderful aquarium where they could reach in and handle some of the incredible fish. They sang traditional French songs while they kneaded their dough during bread making, and they learnt just how much better they all were than their teachers when it came to archery!

By the end of the very busy week they were tired but they all seemed so much more confident and positive with their French. An unforgettable experience was had by all.

Click here to see the photographs in our Flickr album

Click here to see a fun video of the trip