Extra Curricular: Residentials
Paris Trip 2009
On February 27th 2009, students and 2 members of ICT staff will be setting off to Disneyland, Paris. Instead of meeting Mickey Mouse however, the group will be attending ICT and Business conferences, put on specifically for Sixth Form students.
The conferences will be hosted by Breakfast News TV star Declan Curry and issues relevant to the business and ICT world will be discussed. It won't be all work and no play however, the trip includes a day pass to the theme park! So perhaps we will meet Mickey Mouse after all..!
Sixth Form Trip to Berlin
October 23rd - 26th
Vicky Rowe, Gemma Seddon, Stef Isaac, Becki Fox, Kim Blackburn, Fiona Lindley, Beth McNichol, Helen Parker and Amy Webster
Berlin was full of surprises. The first one was that none of our luggage was lost at either of the airports! After arriving, we sampled the delights of the very efficient German transport system and were amazed at all of the little shops in the underground stations: sausage stands, little bakeries and cake shops ... it's certain you won't get hungry while waiting for a train! Our hotel was in the Prenzlauer Berg district of former EastBerlin. First impressions: a lot of building work, lots of graffiti, both political and humorous, but all in all a pretty nice place.
Our first evening included a visit to the 365m high TV tower in Alexanderplatz. Luckily, the Festival of Lights was on so we had the chance to see the whole of Berlin lit up and beautiful. Following this an urge for ice-cream was felt by almost all the party so we moved on to Hackerscher Markt and found a HUGE Hagen-Dazs shop, where we tested out our German with 'Zwei Kugeln Chocolate Chip, bitte!' and when we sat down to eat it all, there we saw a man in lederhosen! Cue excited giggling and attempts to get photos!
Bright and early on Tuesday morning we headed off in the direction of 'The Story of Berlin', a museum which describes the fascinating history of this unique city. Attached to the museum is a real atomic bunker, which we had a tour around: cramped conditions, no showers, toilets with no doors on, little oxygen and only tinned bread to eat - Nein danke! After this we went sightseeing to the Brandenburg Gate, Jewish Memorial and the Reichstag. Photo opportunities were enjoyed by all.
Wednesday saw us in 'Das Haus am Checkpoint Charlie', a museum all about the Berlin Wall, detailing the fates of the escapees from the East. Then the bit that everyone was looking forward to - shopping! So, it was off to KaDeWe, the largest department store in Europe with, unfortunately, prices to match. Our final evening was spent enjoying a meal together, having photo wars, pulling faces and generally having a very good time.
Before bed we had a quick spree at Lidl, buying tasty biscuits for just 79 cents. All in all, throughout our few days in Berlin, we had the chance to have our first taste of German culture and it was certainly a fantastic experience for all of us. The whole group would like to express enormous gratitude to the teachers who took us - Mrs Shaw, Mrs Richards and our German assistant, Tatjana.
Now Miss, where are we going next . . .
Spanish Trip
by Danni Marshall, Natasha Caden and Jodie Gordon
Tossa de Mar, Barcelona, port Aventura, Nou camp, Sagrada famila, Ramblas. These are all the places that we visited during our study trip to Spain. There is too much to mention about our jam packed, fun filled trip but this is an outline of all the fun stuff we did!
It was Thursday morning and everyone going on the trip met. We all stood excitedly with our parents unable to wait for our departure but as always, time goes very slowly when you are excited! When the coach came, there were a lot of emotions flying as we were waved off by our parents and off we set to the Leeds and Bradford airport. We arrived at Tossa de Mar and after our meal we set off for a little walk around the resort, we stopped at a certain statue of a man who told the story of an under water volcano!
On Friday we went to port Aventura. This was a brilliant day out with a range of cool rides from the tea cups, to the Dragon Khan (8 looper) as well as some water rides, food/drink stalls plus souvenir stalls.
On Saturday we went shopping and then to the beach. It was a very chilled day, lots of sunbathing, pictures, eating and ball games such as rounders and even dodge ball. Everybody had a really great time. Then we went to have something to eat back at the hotel, and to top off a really nice relaxed day we had (for the very first time in the hotel) CHIPS! Everyone just piled their plates up! Then we went to our rooms to get dressed up for 'the weakest link' It was fantastic there were so many different funny characters such
as The power puff girls, Coyote ugly, Mean girls, Bunnies and loads more! The power puff girls and Ant and Dec got through to the finals but in the end the winners were Little Ant and Dec. Then after all the excitement we went to bed.
On Sunday morning we set off for Barcelona's very own Nou Camp after breakfast. It wasn't a very long journey but it was incredibly hot! There, we looked around a museum, souvenir shop and of course, the stadium it was huge! We all sat in the stands at the very top of the stadium singing all sorts of songs. After our time at Nou Camp we went to Sagrada Familiar Cathedral. We looked around the detailed building with its spiral staircases, stone people, angels and gods. It was so big! Then we heard its amazing story - it had taken builders 140 years to build and it will take at least 30 more years to complete. It's absolutely beautiful. Shortly after we visited La Rambla, it was really great and there were loads of street entertainers, shops and human statues. Lots of fun but really tiring. When we returned to the resort, we went to a little restaurant and held an awards ceremony. It was really nice because there were lots of really cool certificates and prizes were awarded for things like 'Lobster' (most sun burnt) funniest moment and stuff like that.
On Monday morning we spent more time in the resort before the journey home to England. It was nice to see our families again but how we miss our fantastic trip to Spain! Thanks to all the teachers who made it happen and all the staff that came along - you made it a holiday to remember!