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Orchard Park High School

Orchard Park students take Spain by storm!

Students enjoy sports tour to Lloret de Mar.

Over the May half term, 46 students along with four members of staff, attended the much anticipated Spain sports tour to Lloret de Mar, near Barcelona. Miss Goodwin, Miss Walsh, Miss Hansford and Mr Latouche took students from Year 8, 9 and 10 to compete in the annual sports school competition, organised by tour company, Absolute Travel and Tours.

Throughout the week, students participated in coaching sessions held by professionals and played fixtures against other British schools in football and netball. All of the teams were involved in highly competitive fixtures against other schools with some very impressive performances and results on display. Highlights include convincing wins for the under 13 boys’ football, who came home with a trophy, some hotly contested games for the under 15 boys’ football and some fantastic commitment from both the girls’ football and netball teams.

Down time

Having played so well in the heat, the students took the opportunity to cool down in the swimming pool at the hotel and there was always excitement for the evening activity where we would visit the town centre to play mini golf, compete on the bumper cars at the Magic Park arcade and pop into the local shops to haggle the price of a souvenir to take home.

We also had the opportunity to spend the day in Barcelona, where we toured the incredible Camp Nou stadium, home of Barcelona FC, as well as explore the famous Las Ramblas with its range of shops. One of the highlights of the trip was visiting the Water World water park in Lloret de Mar on the last day, where the students enjoyed the thrill of a number of rides without too much of a queue.

Awards

We held our own awards ceremony on Wednesday evening as each student took home a medal and eight students won the teacher award for impressing with their positive attitude, kindness to others and helpfulness, amongst other things. Well done to Jude, Riley, Regan, Bianca, Mariam, Makai, Archie and Sammy.

Aside from playing sports and touring, the students were also challenged by the teachers for their conduct on the trip. Students gained points for carrying equipment, helping others, kindness, making teachers laugh, winning player of the match and also lost points for being late to a meeting time, forgetting their belongings, using their phone at the dinner table and many more. It was a keenly contested competition by everyone, and was eventually won by Mariam, who was awarded her trophy on the journey home and received some ASOS vouchers from the teachers.

After a long journey back to the UK, each student and staff member on the trip arrived home full of some exciting stories to tell about the amazing time they had.

I would like to say a massive thank you to all of the students and staff who made this an enjoyable week. It was action packed and will provide some lasting memories. After the success of this year’s trip, plans are already underway for a return to Lloret de Mar next year.

Miss L Hansford, Head of PE