Ardres 2013: Photo album

I've been fighting with the new Google+ photos 'feature' (and that's putting it very politely).
Please try the link below and email me at the usual address if it doesn't work  -  or, indeed, to confirm that it does, since it all seems a bit hit and miss ...

Album of Ardres 2013 photos

Ardres 2013: Thank you

The weather did a marvellous impression of November from Tuesday to Thursday, but the children did an even better impression of indestructible and irrepressible Britishness and paid no attention, which was very impressive.  There is a new site manager, Malcolm (far right in photo), at Ardres this year, who has put in a great deal of work to tidy up the site and improve the facilities, bringing in new kayaks, kata-kanus (a sort of catamaran canoe with a sail  -  an excellent introduction for children) and a climbing wall, so many thanks to him.  The team of instructors was very good;  they were keen and positive throughout and we have a lot to thank them for, too.  Also, of course, the unforgettable Kevin, the bus driver.

Mr Edlin and Mrs Liley worked tirelessly to look after the children and organise them during the week and I would like to thank them for giving up their holiday and working so hard.  I must also add that my technician, Mr Bates, has put in a lot of work behind the scenes in the last few months to help me with the administration of the trip, which was very much appreciated.

Finally, of course, I must thank the parents for being so positive and supportive and the children for being fantastic throughout the week.  We were astonished by their achievements and it has been an absolute pleasure to take them away and see them having such a good time whilst developing in so many ways.

I will put up an album of a small selection of photos in the next few days.

Travel update 5

Now on M23. Satnav ETA 2:15.

Travel update 4

Satnav currently predicting ETA 2:13.

Travel update 3

Just leaving Dover, could be back early depending on traffic. Watch this space ...

Travel update 2

On the ferry and about to leave Calais.

Travel update

All through passport control and waiting to board the ferry. Running to schedule so far.

Ice creams

Sorry, Mrs Barter, she insisted ...

Getting ready for ice cream

Preparing to paddle across the lake to the ice cream shop.  Ice cream photo may follow ...

Mission Impossible

Archie explains how to feed the people through the web of rope.
He now needs to explain how he managed to get my hat ...

Getting ready

Just about to go off to the morning's activities, about to sing a song about bananas ...

Archery

Ready to go ...

The weather looks much better today. 
The Year 7 girls are about to take to the water and think their paddles make fetching moustaches. Alasdair has a quick practice in his kayak on the grass.

Sunshine at last

After a rather wet day, the sun finally made an appearance this evening.  The forecast for tomorrow is much less wet.

I can remember these olive trees as saplings during our first visit in 2001


This is our village, "Canards". The children are doing an evening activity in the marquee.

As you can see, I am having much more success updating the blog this year with my new phone and have also managed to tap into the Acorn wifi.

Up the wall ...

The Year 7 girls have a go on the climbing wall, a new activity this year.

Up and away

After a surprisingly good night's sleep, we are up and at it this morning.  Weather a bit wet ...

Volleyball

Having settled into their tents, a quick game of volleyball before the first activity.

Safely arrived at Ardres

After a pleasant smooth crossing we have arrived safely at the campsite. The sun is shining and the weather is very warm.

We have garments!

The T-shirts and hoodies arrived today. We hope to have them sorted out tomorrow.

Ardres 2013: Groups

There are three sets of groups into which we organise pupils for the trip, so it can be a bit complicated:

• Travelling check-list groups so that we can easily check all pupils are present
• Tent allocations
• Activity groups

The tent allocations are based on requests received from pupils and parents and Mrs Liley is just finalising those.  The activity groups are to split the pupils into three groups of suitable sizes for the activities that will take place during the week.  These tend to be based on the tent groups and we will sort them out this week.

The travelling check-list groups are purely to speed up the process of checking off the pupils at various stages during the journey and at any point during the week when we need to check that all the pupils are present.  Pupils are not expected to stay in these groups; it is simply a matter of reporting to the relevant member of staff to be ticked off.  To make things simple, I have arranged those by form as below:

• Mrs Liley:  7Be and 7He
• Mr Edlin:   7Vi and 8Ca
• Mr Court:  8Co and 8Sa

These are the people to whom you should report on Monday morning.