In October fifty pupils jetted off to Valencia on a football and hockey sports residential trip. The boys trained with Valencia FC honing their football skills and the girls played with HC Club Valenciennes to improve their hockey.

The state-of-the-art facilities and world class coaching at both venues provided the pupils with an absolutely awesome experience on which to train for the four-day trip. Pupils also got to tour the facilities, go behind the scenes and host mock post-match interviews. After all that hard work there was plenty of downtime with pupils, swimming, enjoying the beach, bowling and the arcades!

While pupils weren’t always victorious in the matches, staff were keen to point out that we do not have to measure success with a win, it is the ‘little wins’ and progress the pupils make throughout the game that really matters.

As well as the training, pupils played lots of local matches. It was great for them to see how the Spanish play. Each match was a learning process and they now have a style of football and hockey to aspire to.  The local community was especially supportive with pupils making friends and lots of mixed team photos taken at the end of each match.

Simon Hinchliffe Head of PE and Boys’ Games said “residential trips such as this offer so many opportunities that we couldn’t offer in the traditional classroom. The opportunity to train with professional coaches, use world class facilities and work alongside professional athletes is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

The tour also provided pupils with a chance to develop their linguistic skills, social appreciation of other cultures, as well as navigating challenges such as flying or being away from home for the first time. Well done to everyone who came on the trip you were a credit to the school”.