19th December 19
We are delighted to report that our inaugural Year 6 Ski Trip was a great success! Given it was the first week of the ski season, they couldn’t have asked for better conditions, with plenty of snow and lots of blue sky and sunshine. The girls returned from their week long trip on Saturday, happy, smiling and excited to tell everyone about their adventures.
It all began on Saturday 7 December at 5.15am, when 22 Year 6 girls and 3 members of staff left Maltman’s Green on a coach bound for Heathrow. The final destination was Les Menuires, in the French Alps. Much of the day was spent travelling, but after a warm welcome at the hotel the girls had time to hire kit from the hotel’s ski hire service. Sunday was the first day of skiing and the girls met their ski instructors: Pascale, Didier and Gille. The instructors managed to build excellent rapport with each girl, while always challenging them and helping them grow in confidence. Each evening the girls took part in a variety of activities, including a town trail, winter Olympics, quiz night, movie night, swimming and a disco. Needless to say, when it came to ‘lights out’ everyone was very happy to curl into bed, exhausted from the day’s activities!
The girls’ time away did more than simply teach or improve their skiing – they had opportunities to practice their French with the instructors, staff at the hotel and members of the public; they also got to work on their personal organisation skills as they were responsible for their kit; they developed their resilience and perseverance skills while on the slopes; and they built upon their existing relationships with their peers, supporting and encouraging each other. As they watched the girls grow in confidence and ability, the Maltman’s staff on the trip were incredibly proud of their achievements, not least the courage they displayed at being away from home for so long – for many of the girls, this was the longest they had been away from their families, but they all behaved with great maturity.
When asked to describe their trip in one word, the words offered were cool, brilliant, exciting, dare-devil, epic, fantastic, terrific, hilarious, extra-ordinary and supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! That says it all really! What a wonderful week of fun. The girls, and staff, made many happy memories which we are sure will be remembered for a long time to come.
We will be returning to Les Menuires in 2020 and already have a large group of excited girls booked onto the next adventure!
