I have created an internet group for you to view and share your photos.  This is a private group and only those who have been invited can see the photos.

I will send an invite to your school email address – this will give you all the details you need to sign up to the group.  If you haven't received your invite by the end of the week let me know.  You can access your school email from home by visiting the following site;

http://webmail.taw.org.uk/exchange/

When logging in you need to type in edit/username (e.g. john.smith) and your usual password.

If you have problems logging on let me know.

Mr Curtis

Another beautiful day beckoned us to a slightly later start so we would arrive at Sophie Barrat in time to meet our guests and their coach so we could follow them to Versailles.

Versailles was stunning in the astounding excess that the court of Louis XiV and his ilk lived amongst – e.g. 1100 horses and 3000 visitors each day. We learned the fans used at court were used not to keep the courtiers cool, but to waft away the halitosis created by rampant dental decay. The buildings and gardens were simply phenomenal, and could only be slightly improved, according to one BRJ student, by replacing many of the statues with likenesses of herself.

We were welcomed after our tour of Versailles back to a 'disco' in honour of our students which entailed an 'haute cuisine' buffet and a kind of break dancing-competition in which the different nations tried to out dance each other. Despite a valiant effort by our students, it looked like a rare French victory – that was until Mr Curtis stepped up. Game over. French trounced. Agincourt all over again.

The students disappeared at midday with their host families for various excursions, outings and treats.  Here are some of the things they got up to…

The perfect ending to a wonderful meal provided by our hosts.

Only about 20 minutes late we arrived at the beautifully appointed campus of our exchange school. Students were allocated their classes and shuffled bashfully in amongst their gallic peers – who, incidentally, stood immediately when another teacher entered the room.

Our bleary eyed staff and students did remarkably well to extricate themselves from their slumbers and down to breakfast on time. Crushing sugar cubes onto corn flakes perhaps created a little more mess than providing us with granulated, but, hey, ho!

Everything was going swimmingly until GB (Geordie Bob) tried to exit the car park. A series of fabulous parking decisions by the local populace made our early start a little optimistic and our big red bus was stuck fast. GB, brilliantly, turned the bus around and after reversing for  1/2 a kilometer, got us heading toward Sophie Barat.

All staff and students present, unharmed allbeit a little tired here in the Hotel Akena, Grigny to the south of Paris.  Geordie Bob, our driver has only had to fend off one mad silver peugeot driver and has delivered us safely here with the assistance of the Geography department (only one wrong turn).  However, once we picked up the correct signs it didn't take us long to find our way out of Luxembourg!

We have just consumed a filling meal of tomatoes (lots), followed by exotic French cuisine (burger and chips – chunky English ones) and finished off with a healthy scoop of ice cream.  We have met our French contact and we are all looking forward to a day in school tomorrow.  More updates daily!  Stay tuned and enjoy the pictures.