Taking 38 lively teenagers on a 1500-mile round-trip to a ski resort in Italy is a major challenge and so Mrs Caroline Paul’s decision to organise this year’s excursion through a travel company was a wise one, particularly as the school had not visited Sauze d’Oulx before.  The travel company organised much of the detail including the coach trip, and Mrs Paul made a flying visit beforehand to confirm the arrangements.  The company also provided a tour guide who knew the resort well and was fluent in Italian, and this turned out to be a real boon when co-ordinating activities and solving problems.

Accommodation was in a delightful hotel in the hamlet of Jouvenceaux on the edge of Sauze d’Oulx, conveniently positioned next to the ski-hire shop.  The hotel could accommodate the whole party at once, which eased the administrative load, and it provided breakfast and dinner every day.  There was also plenty of space in the hotel for the pupils to gather, chat or play cards in their free time.  The hotel was a five-minute walk from the main chairlift, which gave access to about 100 kilometres of pistes.  On the slopes we could not have asked for better conditions, with excellent snow and blazing sunshine throughout.  The pistes were generally categorised as blues and reds, with a couple of reasonable blacks to test the better skiers; they were all very wide and immaculately tended, meaning that even the most difficult slopes could be negotiated safely.

The instructors were all local experts, one of them being the owner of our hotel, and they organised the pupils into four groups according to ability.  There were five hours of tuition each day, and the pupils could ‘free ski’ on some of the easier slopes when not under instruction.  The standard of tuition throughout was superb and the instructors worked their charges hard.  Each day’s work was gauged according to the skill and progress of the pupils, and within a couple of days everyone was skiing well enough to be taken to the very highest peak, over 2700 metres high.  By the end of the week even the novices had skied on the most difficult slopes.  On the last day the whole party took a cable car across to the neighbouring resort of Sestriere, where some elements of the 2006 Winter Olympics had been staged.  The slopes were interesting and provided new challenges, but the resort itself lacked the charm of Sauze d’Oulx, so we were happy to return to our ‘home base’ at the end of the day.  These extensive resorts offered exciting and enjoyable skiing, and the sheer number of different slopes meant that there always seemed to be new areas to explore.  This must have ignited the competitive instinct within the pupils as they sought to impress their peers with their new techniques, with only the occasional failure!

This competitive pressure continued after the skiing and into the organised evening activities.  One such activity was ‘bum-boarding’, where the pupils slid down a floodlit slope on a disc the size of a frisbee, followed by hot chocolate and a karaoke session.  Another evening was spent in an excellent games complex playing pool, table tennis and various arcade games.  There were some more leisurely activities, too, such as shopping in the main town or enjoying pizza in a traditional restaurant.  The highlight, though, was the talent contest where all sorts of entertaining acts were on show, from card-tricks to hip-hop dancing to eating unmentionable substances!

During the trip the whole group took full advantage of all of the organised activities and everyone clearly enjoyed themselves at all stages.  The pupils showed great enthusiasm and cameraderie, and the staff were delighted to observe how well they supported each other throughout the week.  All in all, this was possibly the best school skiing trip of them all.

Thursday 30th September saw the arrival of the fifth German exchange group from the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Gymnasium in Schweich.  32 students and the group leaders, Julie Lennig and Christian Treinen, spent a week staying with Senior Four and their families.
The exchange partners had been matched up in July and had been busy on Facebook during the summer getting to know each other.  This meant that all the students were looking forward to the exchange and it turned out to be one of the most successful weeks we have experienced.
Here is a diary of the exchange compiled by Senior Four:
Anticipation!
The main problem was from our parents worrying that their house was not adequate to accommodate an extra guest. (Many parents went to great lengths to make the exchange more pleasurable by re-decorating bedrooms, etc.)  On the other hand, all pupils were excited about their new German arrivals because they had been in contact with them for months via Facebook.
We all got on extremely well with our German partners, because we mostly bonded instantly, despite having very different interests sometimes.
By George Rushton and Joe Swift
The day they arrived  Thursday 30th September
There was a nervous and excited atmosphere among the Twycross students as the German coach became visible. As the bus got closer you could see the Germans' happy facial expressions and some Twycross students could even work out who their partner was because of Facebook pictures. The bus stopped and the Germans greeted the Twycross students with open arms. Everyone’s initial response was very positive and we were glad we finally got to meet our partners. We could tell the week ahead would be great.
By Haylee and Alice
1st Day with the Germans   Friday 1st October
Seeing our Germans for the first time was slightly awkward but exciting. The trip back home was a little difficult as it was hard to find a good subject to talk about with them. Once at home things went more smoothly, as our parents left us to our own devices. The tour round the house helped us get to know each other, and soon we were talking as best we could. The first introduction to English food was at dinner with a traditional meal of fish and chips.
By Dan and Seb
Disco Friday 1st October
The disco came early in the exchange on Friday 1st October and we all saw it as a chance to get to know our pen friend and other pen friends as well.
It was a bit awkward to start off with as people arrived, but everyone became more comfortable as the night went on.
The night was really enjoyable and everyone had a good time.
By Charlie Stockton, Ben Cockroft and Tom Goodwin
What we did at the weekend
Many people did different activities with their German exchange partners. A few went sight seeing and shopping in London and very much enjoyed going to Abercrombie and Fitch and visiting Buckingham Palace. Every family tried to pack as many activities into the weekend as possible to give the exchange partners the best experience in England, e.g. go-karting, cinema, bowling, football matches, sailing, shooting, ice-skating, Cadbury’s World and playing sport.
By Alicia Mead and Olivia Jones
A Day in School  Wednesday 6th October
On the last three days of the exchange the German students went on trips to Warwick Castle, York, and Stratford. However, the best day was when they were in school with us. They got split into different classes up and down the school. Some students came to our English lessons where they acted out Macbeth, even though they didn’t understand most of the Shakespearian language.
By Harry and Mark
At the end of the day
Mr Assinder and Mr Morrell arranged an exciting basketball tournament in the sports hall. Everyone attended the event and a large majority took part in mixed teams with a friendly atmosphere. Joe Swift’s team were the eventual victors.

Looking Forward to Germany!

The Secret Diary of a Teenage Tourist 
Found on a seat, towards the back of the coach after our return to Twycross, this journal gives something of the flavour of the fantastic week we had in Crete with 25 of our senior students.

Tuesday – it’s 2.30 AM! Not sure if I’m asleep, awake - alive? Kiss parents goodbye and we’re off. Minor confusion at the airport check-in, only a few people need to change their names and the body scanning isn’t too much of an ordeal and then….We’ve landed in Heraklion: blue skies, sparkling seas, rocky olive groves and…. Malia! (So this is where all the party people on the plane were going.) Mr A says it’s the Minoan ‘murder mile’ and we’re not stopping! So, finally, the Ormos Hotel in Agios Nikolaos comes into view and we’re in HARDCORE HEAVEN. An afternoon in the pool and an evening in the local taverna, the Kri Kri (wild stoat or goat, I think) and then sleeeeeep, at last.

Wednesday – off to the ancient palace of Knossos, wow it’s hot.  Mr and Miss A did a neat move on the queue to get in – ignoring it completely and walking us through the waiting crowds! To be honest, I thought Arthur Evans did a pretty good reconstruction job and “using my imagination” I can almost enter the mythical world of the perfidious prince Theseus and the gullible girl Ariadne - although I’m still a bit confused about the Minotaur and getting lost in a labyrinth…. but it was quite ironic because we got lost in the car park trying to find our bus! So, history really does repeat itself….anyway, Mr A sorted that too. This evening after walking into the town we had the longest wait ever for a meal even though the waitress was RUNNING between the tables, or at least to the teachers’ table, because she was on her own…and doing the cooking! Afterwards, we were allowed to do some shopping and everyone bought fake Ray-Bans and invaded a phone booth for some awesome photos. Can’t wait to Facebook Tom from Bedford.

Thursday – inspired by the waitress went for a run with Mr R at 6.00 AM….don’t think I’ll be doing that again. Then we went to Lato for a bull god sacrifice. Poor old W got his head bandaged and decorated with olive twigs before there was a solemn procession and then his heart was removed!!! (well, of course, we only pretended). Then it was off to a massive cave (even better than Cheddar Gorge) where Mr A told us there were a nice couple of gods, Crow Nose and Rita I think, and he said  “no one can doubt Zeus was born here”. Anyway, this woman kept shouting ‘NO FLESH!’, so I covered my shoulders, but it turned out she was saying ‘no flash’, but everyone took pictures anyway pretending not to understand English. There were lots of windmills and a microclimate (which is good for my geography). We had a nice meal, too. I just wish there weren’t so many seeds in the tomatoes.

Friday – think I’m getting RPVS (repetitive palace visiting syndrome) as we’re off to Gortyn, though, to be fair, this was Roman and they left the first CODE OF LAWS and a theatre before getting fed up with the earthquakes and deciding to invade somewhere else. Then we visited Phaestos, which had the first flushing toilet and great views but the BEST BIT today was the beach at Matala where we had some sand blasting of the skin because the Malteni wind (which really does your head in) was blowing full blast, and some of our group started scrambling up the cliff to the caves saying things like ‘Where’s Bob Dylan? And Who is Joni Mithchell?’ because apparently lots of yippies used to live there in the 1860s. And we had a good swim. On the way home there was some horrendously happy banter whilst we played a very sophisticated pokemon card game, then we swapped ipods and then we slept. For the evening meal I had some crazy, shizzle, rizzle, dizzle, bizzle schnitzel and Sprite aka Fanta Lemon.