The views and weather were fantastic as always and if the snow was getting a bit heavy by the end of the day, then the setting more than made up for it. The evening events went well too, pizza is always delicious, the karaoke was hilarious, the quiz awesome and the disco amazing. For many students it was an eye opening adventure away from home for the first time, and they rode the emotional ups and downs with perseverance. Although the cultural dissonance with regards to food is always a challenge, Marta was on hand to smooth out any issues. The students’ first ever experience of batch cooked budget food was overcome and no one went hungry.

The teachers who had never skied before did some sterling work improving their skills and overcoming their worries. Nearly all students were able to tackle an intermediate red run by the end of the week and the ski instructors handed out certificates to each student (and some teachers).

We had our own categories of certificates too:

Speed Queen – Emily (12O)

Speed King – Noah (12M) Narrowly beating Harry (10S).

Best Dressed – Caleb (13M) Orange on Orange classic.

Best Dressed – Sophie P (13B) Coordinated to the nines.

Stack of the week – Luca (10E)

Stack of the week – Sophie S (13E)

Most improved – Elicia (13E)

Most improved – Gino (10W)

Best photograph – George (13O) also most photos of the week.

We were praised by hotel staff, ski instructors, coach drivers and even random members of the public on how good our wonderful students are.

The only marring of the holiday was the impending Border control strikes that were planned during our journey home. The ski instructors agreed to change our lesson times so that we only lost an hour of skiing meaning we could still leave early. Students organised themselves efficiently and we were on our way by 3pm. A sweepstake of how long the journey would be was taken. The end result was 31 hours, everyone was so happy to be home and get to bed without further delay.

A big thank you to the parents, students and staff involved who made it a fantastic trip. Starting to think forward to next year with only 350 days to go.