Busy Bancroftians – Easter trips 2016
The end of term in March didn’t mean that Bancroftians stopped for the Easter holidays. This proved to be a particularly busy period with a whole variety of different trips taking place, curricular, sporting and co-curricular.
First off were our ski trips, with some very early starts to reach the slopes in Italy. This year we ran three successful ski trips catering for Junior, Middle and Senior pupils; pupils ranged from absolute beginners, many of whom made swift progress, to those who seemed to have been skiing before they could walk!
Members of both the Army and RAF sections of the CCF headed up to Coniston in the Lake District for a week of adventurous training. They had the chance to experience gorge scrambling, climbing and mountain biking in the beautiful Tilberthwaite area of the Little Langdale Valley as well as caving and canoeing. The week ended with two nights camping and some fell walking (although snow on the peaks meant a quick rescheduling of routes).
Other groups were off to warmer climates. The Classics department organised a visit to Greece to view archeologically important sites and museums. L4 (year 9) geographers also experienced some good weather on their visit to Sicily where they learnt about our “restless earth” amongst the volcanic islands in this part of the Med. Salamanca in northwestern Spain was the destination for members of the Removes (year 8) who got the opportunity to practise their skills – not only at Spanish but also in cookery and Sevillanas dancing. They also seemed to have eaten a lot of tapas, ice cream and churros con chocolate!
The cricketers who toured Barbados travelled the furthest to escape the gloomy English weather. The Bajan pitches looked a little parched in places following an extensive period of drought but the boys still enjoyed some competitive games as well as some periods of rest and relaxation including swimming with turtles and spending time at the boatyard. Floodlit cricket proved to be a new experience for the relatively young team. In case anyone was missing their maths, Mr Flaherty even ran some revision sessions!
Eighty five Fifth Formers made up our biggest ever Silver DofE practice expedition. They travelled up to the Dark Peak are of Derbyshire where they put their navigational and camping skills to the test. A successful expedition, with everyone coping well with mixed weather conditions and some very boggy terrain! A real step up from Bronze.
As ever, these trips couldn’t take place without the hard work of the staff who planned and accompanied them.
