During the last week of June and the first week of July, 219 excited Year 8 students set off for La Grande Découverte. Our intrepid explorers crossed the channel some by ferry, some by Euroshuttle, to reach Boulogne in time for a treasure hunt and beret shopping through the old town before lunch in the park. A visit to Nausicaa and the opportunity to stroke stingrays, watch the antics of the penguins and sea lions followed – as did the visit to the Nausicaa gift shop. Some of us had to be reminded that we still had another couple of days of shopping opportunities! Fortified by a good - if short in some cases – night’s sleep we enjoyed a typical continental breakfast complete with hot chocolate in bowls followed by chocolate spread on French bread and made our way to the beautiful town of Le Touquet where we enjoyed the challenge of buying a healthy picnic lunch for the princely sum of 5 Euros using our finest French and at times – miming skills. Many enterprising students rose to the challenge magnificently, pooled their resources and splashed out on fine regional hams and cheeses and salads from the posh delicatessens followed by peaches and strawberries dipped in - yes chocolate again! Others visited the patisserie for their desserts and were wowed by the colours and flavours of the macaroons. Lunch on the beach ensued and for those lucky with the weather, a quick paddle and an ice cream and then it was back on the coach for our trip to Etaples. The first sight of the huge number of war graves put our explorers in a much more contemplative mood and as students wandered amongst the beautifully kept cemetery, all were moved by the number, variety and youth of the servicemen buried there. Many used the books at the entrance to try and identify possible family members. Students also got back onto the coach with a list of questions for their history teachers on their return. After a short drive we arrive at Le Musée de l’Abeille in Bouin where we were greeted by Kevin, our animateur and treated to a presentation on the life cycle of the honey bee and shown the workings of the hives, ably assisted by some of the students who volunteered to dress up as a Drone, Worker or Queen bee. Outside in the gardens we were able to watch the bees hard at work and at the end of our visit we were given a pot of honey to try on our breakfast toast on our return home. After dinner we collected a variety of ball games and golf clubs and went out into the grounds to play football, cricket, rounders and mini-golf or wide games. Some students just took the opportunity to get to know each other better. Students on trip 3 were amazed to come up close to two hot air balloons setting off from the grounds and making a beautiful backdrop on a striking blue sky. Bedtime was a much quicker affair with students (and it has to be said, teachers) tired out from a very busy and exciting day. Our final day dawned and we set off for the snail farm. Any trepidation that students felt about trying snails was soon dispelled by the kindness of Fabienne and Sylvain who greeted us with much needed refreshing drinks of water and lemonade and showed the us special “gros gris” snails in their habitats and told us about their farm. Fabienne and Sylvain were hugely impressed by the students’ willingness to try all the snail dishes and the homemade jam –although thankfully not all at the same time! More culinary delights awaited us at the boulangerie and after being impressed and terrified in equal measures by the baker and having formed our own croissants (some more successfully than others) and practised kneading baguettes and pain de champagne, we were very pleased to try the croissants and the pain au chocolat we were given by the bakery. Then it was “Au revoir la France” and “Bienvenue en Angleterre” as we boarded the coach for the homeward journey to school to meet our families.