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YEAR 8 & 9 TRIP TO BONN

Year 8 and 9 Christmas trip to Bonn, Germany, run by Mr Mehrabian from the MFL Department.

As 47 Year 8 and 9 students met together at 2.45am at school, we really hoped the very cold and very early start was worth it for this trip- and it really was! After an incredibly smooth journey (even getting an earlier ferry because we’d made such good time!) we travelled across 5 countries by coach and made it to Bonn by late afternoon on Wednesday and rested at the hostel with dinner, a team building quiz led by Miss Overbeck and Mr Mulvany, and early bed.

On Thursday, after a very typical (and delicious) breakfast at the hostel, we headed to ‘Bonns Fünfte’ School to visit the staff and students there. From learning about washing machines in DT, to a Biology lesson via a history lesson about laws, all our students enjoyed a morning in class with their German host students. Practicing their German, our students chatted in class and tried to learn along with the teachers. Friends were made very quickly, and lunch saw much laughter and fun, as they showed them around the school and played football and table tennis together.

After a school lunch, it was then time to head into Bonn to visit the beautiful Christmas market there. There were stalls galore in traditional German market style, and students enjoyed trying out their shopping vocabulary in real life!

Friday brought a fuller day, which started with trip to a local museum that also had wild boar, deer and a beautiful stag in an area of outstanding natural beauty. After a short forest walk, we headed to the giant Haribo Outlet store- much to everyone’s excitement.

After a quick (actually quite a long!) stop at the Haribo shop, we were swiftly on our way back to the school for a final lunch and reunion with some of the students. After waving goodbye, we headed over to Cologne for the final Christmas market experience. And what an experience it was! If we thought Bonn market was good, we were all bowled over by the size and beauty of the Cologne market. It is world- renowned as the largest, best German Christmas market and we can well understand this status. With an outdoor ice rink, hundreds of stalls, amazing food and pretty gifts to buy, we stayed until it got dark (and very pretty, with lights and Christmas trees everywhere) and then headed home for our final night at the hostel.

Our day long coach journey back was, like the first day of travelling, long but broken up by lots of stops in each country and a ferry journey.

We had a brilliant time, and the students were a real asset to the school. A huge thanks must go to Herr Mehrabian who organised the trip, and to Miss Overbeck, Miss Skipper and Mr Mulvany who joined us on the team of staff.

By Ms Hodkinson