Hi all, tonight was my evening off but I have just returned to a field of sweaty children who look throughly puffed. The D.I.S.C.O is getting rave reviews from the boys who prior to the disco took all of 5 minutes to get changed. I made sure some of the boys showered tonight or tomorrow morning as some of those dorms are fairly whiffy. I gave one boys dorm a minus dorm point because their room smelt so bad – my reaction had one boy red faced with hysterics, I’m glad it made him giggle.
Today for coach 1 was The Battlefields and coach 2 had their tour of Rouen, we’ve been first into breakfast at 0730 every day this week which has made for some really prompt starts and we have truly got the most out of each day we have been here.
The Battlefields were great for coach 1 and as the first St Mary’s year to do this, it felt like a real bonus. We had lunch in a field by one of the museums and I think I was getting a little bored/stir crazy when I suggested rubbish bag sculpting as an after lunch activity to make sure all lunch waste was kept in their bags and not blown away. See below for a picture of one child’s effort at a bunny rabbit – maybe you had to be there.
We went to the wonderful monument at the Theipval memorial where children had to find the names of two soldiers on the monument to research at home, they really enjoyed going around the monument and I must have been told 50 times that they had a found a Powell on the inscriptions. It was all really pleasant and our guides ended with a minute’s silence to remember the fallen.
In the gift shop at Thiepval, one boy asked me if he should save Euros for the market tomorrow; he asked me what there was to buy there and I said ‘Oh just sunglasses, hats and jewellery.’ Upon hearing jewellery this boy promptly said ‘Can I get my nose pierced?’ – this did make me chuckle.
Coach 2 had a their tour around Rouen and marvelled at the skeletons buried beneath Rouen’s streets; the archaeological dig had clearly progressed since coach 1 went as now you could see skulls apparently. All children listened well and there are clearly some really keen historians in our group. They all seem to have such a wide knowledge base from the trips they do with their parents. They have been a credit to you.
This will be the last time I blog from France, keep an eye on Twitter for when we are back in the U.K and if there are any delays.
As ever, all children are happy and have had a really great week.
Mr Powell