During the May half term break, a group of 33 pupils and 4 staff set off on what turned out to be an action-packed 
adventure week in the Ardeche.
The first challenge for both pupils and staff was the gruelling 20 hour coach trip to the Ardeche region of Southern France. Having made our way down to Dover for the crossing to Calais, we began our overnight journey to the resort.
We arrived at the campsite early in the morning and, after a quick breakfast, we went straight into activities, with pupils getting involved in both weaseling and climbing.
Once we returned to the campsite pupils had the opportunity to relax in the pool (quite chilly), and to unpack and settle into our accommodation, before taking part in the evening’s activities which included team building, football and table tennis.
On the second day, we were up and off again to a high ropes course. Here pupils had the opportunity to complete levels 1 and 2 of the course, but unfortunately due to bad weather we were forced to change activities and after a quick lunch we arranged for pupils to visit the local town of Valon.
Here pupils were given time to explore the town and do some shopping for gifts and souvenirs. We then headed back 
to the campsite to start our packing ahead of our trip down the river in a day’s time.
We were up early the next morning and loaded our bags onto the coach before heading to our meeting point at the river. After some basic land training pupils were split into groups and were off canoeing, starting at a very popular tourist location called the Pont-d'Arc.
Aftersome great paddling early on, pupils were able to enjoy lunch on a bank next to the river, before continuing the descent to our overnight bivouac site.
Here pupils enjoyed a 5-course BBQ, aswell as toasting marshmallows and having a much needed mug of hot chocolate, before settling down in their tents for the night.
After a rough night’s sleep for some, we gathered all of our belongings and headed down to the river on our last stretch of the Ardeche.
After a few tricky rapids pupils were able to enjoy some of the amazing scenery on offer. However, during the final stretch on the river, the weather again turned on us and we were forced to battle out the last 2km in heavy rain and hail.
It was a great effort from all pupils and staff to brave the conditions and reach the finish where an ice cream was awaiting pupils as their reward.
After a quick change of clothes and saying our goodbyes to Phil and his team from Adventure Ardeche we boarded our coach for the long journey back to school.
On the whole we had an excellent trip, and the staff were very pleased with the way pupils behaved and represented the school. Fortunately, we had no major incidents (except for Mrs Bassi and Miss Wilkinson capsizing!) and every pupil thoroughly enjoyed the experience.