Welcome home!

 I hope you have all caught up with your sleep and have enjoyed telling your families about your French adventure.

On Friday we woke up nice and early and packed our suitcases. All our suitcases and sleeping bags needed to be loaded onto the coach before we went for our final breakfast. We had lots and lots of croissants and said goodbye to the many instructors that we had enjoyed getting to know over the week. The children wanted to say a big thank you to Laura, Oli, Dean, Nathan, Annie and Chantelle for making their week so special and the staff wanted to say another big thank you to Laura, Tony, David and Catherine for helping us this week! Laura has been a great help to us for the past three years and is sadly leaving the Chateau shortly to pursue her career. She has been a huge hit with the children and they have loved getting to know her. We wish her a huge Church Lane ‘Good Luck’ and we know she is going to be fantastic in her new job!

For the past six years, we have taken a photograph outside the Chateau. The 2012 photograph will always look slightly different due to the snow on the landscape. It was a nice way to end our week at the Chateau.

We waved goodbye to our new friends and our home and headed to Nausicaa. We were a little sad to leave the Chateau, however we were excited to go to Nausicaa.

Nausicaa is similar to the Sea Life Centre, but it is 100 times bigger and better! It is located between Rue and Calasis so it is the perfect stopping place. Nausicaa is amazing; it is the home to thousands of different types of creatures. The children saw thousands of species of fish, penguins, sea lions, sea horses, crocodiles, giant turtles, snakes, lizards and much more. The children thought the penguins were incredibly cute and Will even wanted to take one home! Polly and Caitlin enjoyed giving the fish names, and became quite attached to Roger and Harry!

The children also watched a 4D show. It was a new show this year, different from our five previous visits. On the way in the children were given 3D glasses and sat in front of a huge screen. The show is in French but with English subtitles and it was great to see the children listen to the French and understand certain words. The story followed a fish and a parrot that were located on the ‘dream’ island. This dream island was without pollution, without wasted energy, without people not caring about their surroundings and the message was that our planet could also look like this if we all cared more about our surroundings. It was a great show to watch and the children enjoyed the 4D part as they got a little big wet and windswept!

Another highlight of the trip to Nausicaa is of course the gift shop! We always make sure the children have half an hour inside the shop as it is huge and there is so much to see and buy!

After Nausicca we jumped back onto the coach and enjoyed our lunch from the Chateau, our next stop was the ferry.

We arrived 20 minutes before boarding time and ‘sailed’ through Passport Control. All the children had to jump off the coach to have their green collective passport checked. One lady told Mr Bateman that our children were extremely polite and well mannered and that it is not often that she sees this from School parties. She said that the children were calm and smiley! This was an amazing comment to receive and we are so proud of our children!

We travelled on a different ferry this time and we all looked out of the window to wave goodbye to France. We spent the journey looking around the gift shop and touring the boat. Anaya and Jade were the first to see the ‘White Cliffs of Dover’ and for the first time we decided to go on the deck to watch the boat sail into dock. It was stunning to see the white cliffs out in the open and appreciate what a glorious sight it must have been for the men returning from the war many years ago.

We continued our journey for 45 minutes, and then it was time to say goodbye to Jim our bus driver. Jim had to leave us here as he was going to go and collect another School and take them to the Chateau on Saturday – he is a very popular bus driver. We really enjoyed Jim’s company and thank him for all his hard work and brilliant driving in the snow!

Our new bus driver then drove us the rest of the journey. We stopped for tea at Beaconsfield service station, where children were given the option of KFC or McDonalds...Yum yum!

On the way home we also did two very special things.

All week the children have been collecting raffle tickets and on the way home we held the draw. Staff members had been collecting prizes from the various places we had visited and there was quite a selection for the winners to choose from!

The second thing we do is to present some certificates. The adults on the visit chose two or three children who had done especially well this week.

Miss Capper – Kiara, Panny and Josh
Miss Danha – Luke, Polly and Rocco
Mr Prince – Duncan and Charlotte
Mr Bateman – Joe and Sasha

It was lovely to present the certificates. Every child will receive a Chateau certificate in assembly when we return to school after half term.

Before we knew it, we were pulling into Church Lane, very excited to see all our parents. We started a count down, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and we were HOME! We spent a couple of minutes singing some of the French songs we had learnt from the instructors, our favourite being ‘Chateau do the hump!’ Throughout the visit we have also been singing ‘my heart will go on.’ Every year in France there is a song that we all have stuck in our heads and keep singing it all week. Last year it was ‘Firework’ by Katy Perry and the year before it was  ‘I’ll be there for you’ which is the theme tune to the TV show Friends – both these songs have been ‘Leavers’ songs’ so we will see if ‘My heart goes on’ makes the assembly in July!

Once we had all gathered our belongings we left the coach and returned to our parents. France 2012 was over, but our memories will last a lifetime!

YEAR SIX, YOU HAVE BEEN AMAZING! THROUGHOUT THE WEEK YOU HAVE OVERCOME FEARS, GROWN IN MATURITY, MADE US ALL LAUGH AND IMPROVED YOUR FRENCH LANGUAGE SKILLS. WE ARE EXTRMELY PROUD OF ALL 32 OF YOU. THANK YOU FOR MAKING MY SIXTH VISIT EXCITING AND MEMORABLE. YOUR BEHAVIOUR HAS BEEN OUT OF THIS WORLD AND THANK YOU FOR HAVING THE COURAGE TO JUST ‘GO FOR IT.’ ENJOY YOUR HALF TERM, AND WE CAN’T WAIT TO SHOW YOU ALL OUR VIDEOS AND PHOTOGRAPHS WHEN WE RETURN TO SCHOOL AFTER HALF TERM.

Thank you to all the parents for reading our y6infrance blog, I hope you have enjoyed it. I have certainly enjoyed sharing our highlights with you.

See you all after half term,

Miss Capper, Miss Danha, Mr Prince, Mr Bateman and Mademoiselle Simon.

Hello Wistaston!

I really hope you can all read this blog entry – I don’t think the internet at the Chateau likes the snow!

We have crammed so much into one day, it is unbelievable! We have been for a walk around the grounds surrounding our ‘home,’ visited Abbeville Market, played a game of petanque, toured the beautiful Chateau, completed a spectacular low ropes course, eaten frogs legs and snails, danced at a disco and settled down to enjoy our last night in the Chateau! Wow!

We had an early breakfast today at 7.30am, followed by a lovely walk around the grounds of the Chateau. We have taken loads of photographs to show you all, as it really is a stunning place and the snow has made it extra special. It was really interesting seeing the deer tracks in the snow, we couldn’t believe how many there were and some of us were lucky enough to see two running across our path! We were so pleased. The huge lake which sits in the middle of the Chateau grounds was still completely frozen, the instructors told us that they had measured it last week and it was 8 cm deep! We wondered if we could ice skate on it!

At 9am we clambered on the coach and headed to Abbeville market, the children were VERY excited as we have been telling them all week to save their money to buy some bargains! Abbeville is a town about 30 minutes from Rue. It isn’t as big as Amiens, but it is still very impressive. The market is huge! We bought many different things. Quite a few of the boys bought a hat and they all look very cool! There were stalls selling scarves, boots, jewellery, headphones, watches...everything you could possibly think off! Olie and Jade were looking for bargains and even managed to barter in French! Emily was really confident using her French and bought a beautiful necklace and earring set for only 4 Euros. Charlotte loved using her French to order another hot chocolate. We wondered around the market for a couple of hours, buying presents for our families (and ourselves!) and also completed our annual Abbeville challenge. Each group was given 5 Euros to buy a Red, White and Blue item. We also insist that the items include some element of French (if possible) and also they must be able to go on the wall!!! Miss Capper’s group bought a French scarf (which was mainly blue), a red sweet box and white hair clips. Mr Bateman and Miss Danha’s group bought white gloves, blue candles and red whiteboard cleaner and Mr Prince and Mademoiselle Simon bought a red feather, a white miniature jewellery box and a blue French sweatband. (I can’t wait to see them on the wall!) We left Abbeville carrying lots of bags, Becca didn’t want to leave – she wants to go back tomorrow!

Once we had ‘shopped until we dropped!’ we headed to a local cafe. We have been visiting this cafe for six years now, so it was nice to go back again and enjoy their lovely hot chocolate with cream! Yum.

Back on the coach we returned to the Chateau for lunch and then to complete three different activities. We enjoyed a tour of the Chateau, a game of Petanque and a low ropes challenge.

The tour of the Chateau was brilliant. Two instructors lead us into the different rooms, telling us about the history of each room. We went inside the kitchen, the sitting room and a bedroom where the King of France used to sleep when he visited John Baptise. John Baptise was the originally owner of the Chateau! As an extra special treat, because our children have been brilliant all week, the head instructor, Catherine made us some hot chocolates which we drank on the comfy leather sofas in front of the burning log fire...it was bliss! Joe and Rocco liked the knights and wanted to try on their armour!

Petanque is a French game, very similar to indoor bowls. The children worked in teams and had to throw their ball closest to the ‘jack.’ It was very exciting and we have some very talented players in Year Six! The instructors told the children lots of riddles, Luke was AMAZING and getting the correct answer, as we thought they were really hard!

The low ropes course was AMAZING and we loved every second. There were seven different challenges that the children had to complete in order to get from one end to the other. We took lots of videos and it was a great way to spend the afternoon. The children had to become Ninja Squirrels to help each other. Laura B was really quick and completed the hardest challenge in record time!

After the activities we went for tea and finally it was time to try FROGS LEGS and SNAILS! The frogs legs proved to be very popular and many Year Sixes felt that they tasted just like chicken! The snails however were not so popular! We were impressed by how many children did have the courage to try them – showing our Olympic and Paralympics values!

After tea it was time to get ready for the disco!!! Caitlin and Sophie enjoyed getting ready in front of the brilliant mirrors in their dorms. Best clothes at the ready! The disco was amazing and we really enjoyed dancing with the instructors from the Chateau. They knew a special dance for EVERY song, so we all had a go at strutting our stuff!

The children are currently completing their scrapbook entries for Thursday and then they are going to pack some of their belongings. We have just given them their electrical items to charge for the journey.

Tomorrow we are going to have breakfast and then head for Nausicaa. Nausicaa is like the Sea Life Centre, but a hundred times better and then we will continue our journey home.

I will write a blog entry for Friday over the weekend, so please keep checking. I will also add a few more photographs as well. I especially want to include pictures of our lovely scenery, as it is almost impossible to describe.

Night Night Wistaston,

From the French ‘Crewe’

Year One – The swing boats are amazing, we will come and show you the videos after half term. We bought so many things at the market, but the most popular item was a HAT! Please tell Mrs Collett that we haven’t bought more chocolate but we did buy some sweets!

Year Four – Hello again!

Jasmine – The Frogs legs and snails were interesting!
Isaac – I am not sure how tall the Cathedral is, that is a really good question. Ask Mr B to ‘google it’ and let us know tomorrow.
Sam – The park was amazing. We will show you our videos
Archie – We did NOT like the Cocoa beans, we have bought some home for Mr B to try because we know the he really likes them!
Emily – We didn’t get lost in the underground city as we followed our instructions, however Mr Prince and his group did make us jump!
Natalie – I am glad that you liked the photograph – I think we have take over 300 so far!
Mr B – Year Six are missing you to! Caitlin says ‘hmph!’ but she hopes you have been saving her lots of jobs!
Mrs Lobb – HELLO from Year Six!

Year Four please could you answer some of our questions! What is the weather like in Wistaston? How are Mr Lawrie and Miss Holland getting on in Tanzania? What is the temperature in Wistaston? Is there still lots of snow on the ground like here? Have you seen what the Italian Week gang have been up to? See you all soon!

Hi everyone!
It's Mr Bancroft here. Miss Capper and Miss Danha are having real trouble accessing the internet tonight due to technical problems at the Chateau. They will keep trying to add a blog post but they might not be able to as they leave early in the morning.

All the children are safe and sound and tucked up warm in bed! Abbeville was lovely and everyone enjoyed spending their Euros. The petanque, chateau tour and low ropes were loads of fun this afternoon. In the disco everyone danced all night!

They are looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow night! Keep checking the Twitter for news.

Bonjour Wistaston!

What a FANTASTIC day we have had today; visiting Amiens and an Underground City!

This morning we had our breakfast and completed some more pages in our scrapbooks. After breakfast, we went back to our dorms and we gathered everything we needed for the visit to Amiens and the Underground City, which we were all very excited about.

It was about an hour’s drive until we got to Amiens and it gave us lots of time to enjoy the scenery and we have finally got used to driving on the RIGHT side of the road. Amiens is a beautiful city, with a stunning Cathedral dominating the surrounding scenery. We decided that wherever we stood in Amiens we could see the Cathedral!

Once we arrived in Amiens, we became French detectives! Working as a group, we had to look for French words and try to decipher their meaning from as many different clues as we could find. It was so much fun! The children were able to recognise a lot of vocabulary, for example, the days of the week, months, colours and items from a menu. They also learnt a lot of new vocabulary. We recorded the children discovering their French vocabulary and we will be able to show these at our feedback evening after half term. Katie was very confident using her French. Whilst in Amiens, we managed to compare the difference between a village and a city. It will be interesting to see Abbeville town tomorrow. Once we had become successful detectives, we rewarded ourselves with a play on the park. Mr Bateman led the challenges, whilst completing many of them himself!

Our last activity in Amiens, involved us visiting the Cathedral that we had seen during our walk through the city. Like we said, it is very impressive on the outside; however it is equally as stunning inside. The children were mesmerised by the stained glass windows, and the gold covered decoration. As a group, the children lit a candle to remember everyone who was special to them. Katie and Kyra really enjoyed trying to discover what the stories were in the glass windows.

Back on the coach we ate our packed lunch which was supplied by the Chateau and we travelled for 30 minutes to the Underground City.

The Underground City is incredible. The children imagined it would be a dark, gloomy cave, however it is completely different. The Underground City consists of thousands of meters of tunnels,very deep underground,  all allowing the local villagers in this area to stay safe during conflict. The children followed a trial through the maze of rooms, stopping in bedrooms, a cathedral, butchers, pen for sheep and a common area. The children were given handheld devices to learn about the history and layout of the city. One of the most interesting facts we learnt was that the roads about the ground are called the same names as the tunnels in the Underground City. This allowed the villagers to know where they are in relation to the village above ground. Dan and Charley thought it was really interesting how the children we used to raise an alarm if any unwanted visitors snuck underground.

Once we emerged from underground, we headed to ANOTHER park! This park is the one which the children have been looking forward to the most – this one has the SWING BOATS! The children loved every minute! Hannah and Panny started singing, ‘row, row, row your boat’ and then it turned into another rendition of ‘my heart will go on and on and on!’ The playground was amazing and we loved every minute.

Returning to the Chateau we enjoyed another lovely tea and visited the tuck shop. The football match for yesterday continued and the quality of play was exceptional. Lucy and Laura V decided to play ‘snow frisbee’ with other members of our ‘Crewe.’

Currently the children are completing another fun activity with the instructors. This one was focusing on team building skills.

Tomorrow we are going to Abbeville Market to spend all our Euros and to complete our traditional red, white and blue challenge. After that we are going to take part in the famous blind trial, play a game of petanque and tour the inside of the Chateau.

We are still having trouble connecting to the internet, and unfortunately we have not been able to view the comments. We are really sorry.

We hope the Italian Week gang enjoyed Pizza Hut and we are sure Year Four have written us lots of questions, we will do our best to reply to them tomorrow.

From the French Crewe!