Day Four

 Franglais Fun – Day Four

During our final evening on a beautiful Berck seafront – it was the summer solstice, and the sunset was stunning – one of our children was crying. We asked her what was wrong, and she said “nothing; they’re tears of happiness.” You can’t put a price on experiences like this, and for every one of your children, however tired and grumpy they might be this weekend, the memories of the last four days will stay with them forever.

All good things come to an end, however, and we awoke on Thursday morning knowing this was our last day. Well, most of us awoke but one young lad – our resident wordsmith in fact – was still in the land of nod well after everyone else had eaten, and it took two members of staff standing by his bed shouting ‘wakey wakey’ and clapping their hands loudly to raise him. After another breakfast of multiple croissants and bread (where DO they put it all?) the children were sent back to their rooms to pack, and be ready for Room Inspection. This is an annual highlight for the staff, where children assure us that their rooms are pristine until we point out the underwear, Haribo wrappers, hair scrunchies and shoes under the bed. Quite remarkably this year, one pupil insisted their room was ready having failed to notice not one, but three pairs of shoes on the floor…. There was a slight problem with a very squashed paper bag of ripe cherries, by golly they make a mess, and we had to inform one lad that he couldn’t have all his dirty laundry in a separate bag ready for his parents, it had to go in his suitcase. He was sent back to re-pack. We did, honestly, tell them to remove any more traces of Monday’s lunches from their rucksacks before we left, but I fear it fell on deaf ears in some cases. The rucksacks might need to go through the wash this weekend.

After some further attempts at clearing their rooms we were ready to go. (We were really impressed by one pair of boys, who had stripped their sheets off the bed and folded them neatly, and the young lady who made a heart shape out of the towel and left it attractively on her bed for the cleaners. How lovely.) There were some puzzled faces and denials of ownership of several items of clothing, including a pair of age 9-10 pants, brand new football socks, a grey towel and a vest.

 We said au revoir to the lovely hotel staff at Mister Bed, some of whom have known us for many years. Cases were loaded onto the coach, and we left the hotel for the last time. During our staff chat the night before, where we reflect on how the day went and talk through the next day, we had decided to spend the morning on Berck beach, as the children hadn’t had a lot of beach time this week, and they would be cooped up on the coach for a long time. This was met with cheers, and meant that the enormous inflatable balls purchased at the market could be put to use.

It was a lovely couple of hours, enabling the children to play with people they don’t normally mix with at school, free and with very little in the way of restrictions. The sea was a very, very long way out and even our most dedicated wanderers would have found it a stretch to get lost in that direction, so once everyone knew the boundaries of where they could go and we could see them, they were free. The staff did a great job of wandering around taking photos, organizing teams to stop the arguments, and chatting to anyone who wanted our company. Two girls made a stunning mermaid picture in the sand and were rightly proud. We also took the chance to sit down with a coffee and simply observe your children – it was so nice to do this.

However, the tranquility came to an abrupt end with Trainergate. Berck beach, for those of you who haven’t been (or unpacked the suitcase yet) is extremely sandy – and whilst playing a hilarious game of let’s bury things, a pair of trainers had been buried so well that nobody could find them. After half an hour of frantic digging, one was held aloft with cries of “hurrah!” but the second one was utterly elusive. At one point the staff considered asking the men with their JCB further along the beach to come and excavate, but we hadn’t done a risk assessment for this so decided not to. In the end, with true Year 6 team spirit, the entire year group was lined up in a small area of sand, and told to dig in a straight line like forensic police looking for clues. This tactic paid off, and a shout of “I’ve got it!” brought the drama to an end. Both children were rewarded with chocolate later. Phew.

Of course everyone was starving by then, so it was time for lunch. Staff had popped in to the café over the top of Berck bowling alley and asked them if they could accommodate 51 children and 8 staff for lunch – and who would say no to that? Thus the children chose from steak hache, nuggets or omelette, AND had crepes with or without Nutella for dessert. Wonderful.

Back on the coach we went, and left Berck-Sur-Mer with great memories. The staff were eager to get cracking with some more A-Z, and chose “games” as a theme. This proved relatively easy (thank goodness for the X Factor and Question of Sport board games, not to mention Uno), and “breakfast items” was also an interesting one though ‘quince jam’ was possibly pushing a point too far. The children who had spent the week on the coach sitting behind the staff table have had a very informative and probably highly entertaining time – and we do thank them for their contributions when we were stuck.

We spent the rest of the afternoon in Boulogne – a good contrast to everywhere else we had visited, as it is such an old city with ramparts to walk around and look down on the port. Several children still had some of their spending money from the market, so there was time to wander up and down a quiet street, shopping for souvenirs, balls attached to a piece of elastic, berets and – in one case – another large baguette. 

Alas, back to the coach we went for the final time and headed to Le Shuttle. Here we were greeted with the news that there were delays and we wouldn’t be leaving until 9.35pm at the earliest. Undaunted we piled off the coach and into the terminal for toilets, and then spent an hour on the grass in the sunshine, eating our packed lunches . Well done to the five children who had to collect 60 packed lunches from the coach and push them to the grassy area on trollies. Once we had tidied up, it was time for Awards, and this is always a special part of the trip. Staff spend the whole week watching the children, and it’s nice to reflect both the poignant, funny and educational moments of the trip. Unfortnately one young lady’s award was stuck to other paper in the folder and we didn’t spot it, but she handled this well and just told us back on the bus that she hadn’t received hers. What maturity. There was a very special final award this year to a pupil who, even a week ago, we didn’t think would be able to make the trip for health reasons, but they proved us all wrong, and proved that the 4 page care plan was totally unnecessary as they were determined to do the Year 6 French Trip in all it’s glory. The staff have been staggered by this pupil’s physical and mental strength this week.

And so we were delayed… and delayed…but finally we were on the shuttle, speeding through the tunnel and back to England. Throughout all the delays, there has not been one complaint or whinge from a single child, and our ‘entertainer’ of the week was still keeping the front of the coach upstairs in fits of giggles to the end. He has been an inspiration to us all.

You have tired, possibly a bit smelly, and maybe a little irritable children back home with you. They have had the best four days imaginable, overcome their fears, been on huge personal journeys and made memories for life. Thank you for letting us take them with us.

Thank you, too, to the exceptionally strong team of adults whose care, compassion and love of the children has been faultless. But none of this would have happened without the force of nature that is Madame Betteridge – the organization of this trip has taken over a year, and it was first class as always. We are so lucky to have her.

Year 6 – sleep well, shower properly and be nice to your parents this weekend.

See you all on Monday.

Bonne Nuit.