Gran Canaria 2025!

Twelve fortunate students had the opportunity to spend 10 days in Gran Canaria this term - it was not a trip for the faint hearted! The students had the opportunity to go to a Spanish school every day and take part in a range of different lessons such as traditional Spanish dancing, rocket launches, cookery demonstrations, a Geography lesson taught in English, PE, a trip to a local museum and attending an English lesson. Our new Spanish friends were very welcoming and we repaid their hospitality by inviting them to our villa and we cooked them a traditional English breakfast for 30 people. Mr Britchford (with a little help from Mr Pearce) made sure it was a great success!

Living together as our little family of fifteen in the villa meant that many students had to learn to take on the household chores such as: washing up, cleaning, washing clothes, going shopping, cooking, learning not to be fussy about food, making lunches, preparing breakfast, sweeping, making beds and keeping the villa tidy. It is fair to say that some students learnt a great deal on what it meant to act as a team and how we rely on each other to ensure everyone plays their part.

The students took part in daily briefings where they shared what they were grateful for, what had been a first time experience and what they had learned about themselves:

"I have learned that I can rely on myself"
"I can do things that I never thought was possible"
"I have pushed myself out of my comfort zone"
"I honestly don’t think my parents would recognise me"
"I have never been abroad or had a holiday"
"There are many things that I have never done and I am so grateful for"

There was lots of fun things too, the students' favourite activities were breaktime in the Spanish schools making friends, late night swims in the pool, jumping waves in the sea, eating out in incredible restaurants, feeding the goats, waterslides at the aqua park, ice cream, playing card games and charades, making coffee and eating banana cake at the plantations as well as Mr Britchford’s BBQs!

We are very grateful to Eat That Frog and the Turing Scheme for organising and funding the trip, hopefully we will be able to run the trip again next year!