Day Three - "That was the best ever second to last day"

 Franglais Fun - Day Three

Tonight we have had one of the most wonderful moments in any of our French Trips from the last twelve years – we will save this for the end of tonight’s blog.

Thank you for all your comments on the blog – we love reading these – and the interesting if unusual suggestions for instruments beginning with N.

We had a more leisurely start this morning, as we didn’t need to be out of the hotel until 9.30am so the children were encouraged to go and tidy up their bedrooms, and sort their bags out ready for the day ahead. We can’t be sure that this included disposing of lunch remnants from the journey out here on Monday, but we will do our best to return your children to you tomorrow night without four- day-old old sandwiches and yogurts in their rucksacks.

Everyone was very excited this morning, as it was Bagatelle Theme Park day. The weather was cloudy but dry, which was quite a relief after the deluge at Etaples yesterday so we set off more confidently without our waterproof coats, but packed 100 plastic ponchos just in case. It is only a few minutes’ drive to Bagatelle from the hotel, which threatened to cut short the staff game of A-Z of bands, but our lovely driver drove slowly round the car park to give us time to finish. Q was easy for once and quince wasn’t needed, but Z was tricky. Knowing that the children were eager to get off the bus, we had to resort to Google to finish. The Zombies, in case you were wondering.

We queued to enter Bagatelle, and had our bags searched to check there wasn’t anything untoward in them (leftover lunch from Monday is unpleasant but not illegal.) Once in the park, we split up into groups of those who wanted to head straight to the hardcore rides, and those that wanted to ease in more gently. There were a few other school parties there today, but generally it was quiet and we didn’t have to queue for any rides. What a result! The hardcore group rushed excitedly round to Le Triops – the biggest ride in the park – only to find it was closed for maintenance. You can imagine the disappointment ….but not for long. Off they went to one of the other hardcore rides instead.

The take-it-easy group started on the small caterpillar rollercoaster, and quickly realized that there was more fun to be had than this. We charged round to Le Raft , and soon had virtually everyone in a round tub swirling around on a lazy river, until the lazy river dropped VERY suddenly which made everyone squeal and laugh hysterically. This gave everyone the confidence they needed to then tackle the same ride over and over again – one poor member of staff had to endure this accompanied by some boys singing sea shanties loudly. Much fun was had, and it was great to see children gain confidence so quickly.

We met for lunch half-way through the day and swapped stories of bravery and favourite rides. Virtually every pupil had been on rides that were at least medium level of scariness, and they were very proud of this.

The afternoon was spent swapping groups and giving a little more freedom so that children could choose which rides to go to with their friends. It wasn’t long before we heard screams from up high, which announced that Le Triops had re-opened – hurrah!! How lovely it was to see children who had been throwing themselves upside down and battling with centrifugal force one minute, pedalling round the lake in a pink flamingo soon afterwards.

There was only one case of nausea, which was due to going on Silver Wings five times, drinking a can of Oasis, followed by the Runaway Train. Two pairs of glasses were lost – one on Le Triops and one on a raft - but thankfully found later on. One pupil really impressed us by saying he had changed his mind and wanted to get off Silver Wings, but announced this as the ride started and it was too late. He handled this really well.

Too quickly it was the end of the day, and we met together for a final ice-cream. The conversations showed us just how important this kind of day is, as children who thought they would never be able to go on a certain ride managed to do so, and enjoy it. Again, your children were encouraging each other, kind, and praised those who overcame their fears. Everyone left with a huge sense of success, and new friendships made.

After a quick dash back to the hotel (no time for A-Z at all this time), everyone rushed in for a quick shower and donned the gladrags for our evening out. There were some lovely outfits – sparkly sequinned dresses, platform sandals, chinos and smart shirts – and on a beautiful sunny evening, we went down to the seafront in Berck. We strolled along, looking at the menus in restaurant windows and chose which one we wanted to go to. In our groups, the children ordered their meals in beautiful French, impressing the waiting staff, and a great evening of dinner and conversation began. We encouraged the children to pour drinks for each other, collect up plates and tidy tables, and many tried mussels, if their restaurant had them.

After dinner, we congregated outside a restaurant up one end of the seafront, near a stage set up for a concert. A rock band was playing, and our highly rhythmic Year 6’s started dancing - not just quietly on the pavement, but also standing on podiums and concrete bollards. They’re not shy, our Year 6. In the crowd watching was a young man in a wheelchair. A couple of our boys went up to him and asked his name, danced next to him and made sure he felt part of the party. More and more of our Year 6s went over and joined in with this young man, chatting to him and dancing with him. One boy, in particular, realized that the young man couldn’t move his legs and so was showing him arm movements that he could copy. The young man’s mother, sitting nearby, cried. She told us that nobody ever included her son in anything, and people usually avoided him. She was sobbing, at the sight of St Michael’s Year 6 pupils engaging with this man, and making him feel part of something wonderful. We have explained to the children tonight that they touched this man’s life today, and that of his mother. That lady wasn’t the only adult shedding tears – we were so, so proud of these children of yours.

To quote our resident wordsmith, “that was the best ever second to last day.”

Bonne Nuit.