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Expeditions and Trips

Expeditions of various kinds form an important part of school life both in term-time and during the school holidays. These include theatre trips, visits to places of historical, geographical, scientific or classical interest, residential leadership training weekends, ski trips and tours of art galleries.

The school aims to offer a diverse range of trips. These have included: Outdoor pursuits residential trips, World Challenge Expeditions to Norway, Croatia, Malaysia and Borneo, language exchange visits with some of our partner school in Russia and Spain as well as trips to Lyon, Rome, Barcelona and Normandy. In the summer of 2010 a number of student will participate in a 3 week trip to Namibia, Botswana and Zambia.

The school also has thriving Duke of Edinburgh award scheme.

At the beginning of the Summer vacation 2009, 28 girls (in 2 teams) in U5th and L6th plus 2 staff will be going to East Africa taking in Kenya and Tanzania and in 2010 an expedition to Mongolia will be undertaken. These will be  organised by World Challenge (www.world-challenge.co.uk) and the girls will spend 4 weeks trekking, sight seeing and working in the community.


Click here to view our gallery of the 2007 expedition to Borneo.
Click here to view our gallery of the 2005 expedition to Bolivia.

Don't forget to visit our International Links page.

Croatia From the 1st to 9th April, 9 U4th girls started an exciting World Challenge Expedition to Croatia. This is the first time this trip has been undertaken and it included mountain trekking, sea kayaking and river rafting. The girls spent their first night in a hostel in Zagreb before negotiating the local supermarket for the week’s rations and then setting off for Starigrad on the coast. Their first few days were taken up with climbing in Paklencia National Park where they nearly reached Buljma Pass, a height of 1394m. Unfortunately the weather closed in and the promised views of the Adriatic Sea were not fulfilled. With our feet wet but spirits not dampened we headed back to the sea and spent an afternoon sea kayaking. This was an enlightening experience when you manage to paddle in time with your partner, and being out in the sea gave a wonderful view of the surrounding mountains. The last two days found the girls river rafting down an impressive gorge and learning some of the history of the surrounding area from a local guide. The sleeping was ‘real’ camping in a wild camp site next to the river without any facilities and cooking on a camp fire. They all agreed that potatoes cooked in the ashes of the fire were ‘brill’ and the sausages were the best they had tasted! This trip was made all the more pleasurable as the sun shone, the ice cream was good and the drinking water was very tasty. I am sure all the girls had a great time and we look forward to the next one.

Granada 2009 On Sunday 29th March 2009, a group of seventeen L5th and four L6th girls set off along with three adventurous teachers to Granada, a city in the region of Andalusia in southern Spain. On arrival, we were greeted by a crowd of non-English speaking, traditional, Spanish families – this really put our Spanish to the test! Throughout the week, we had to complete 20 hours of intensive Spanish language, grammar and speaking work at the Don Quijote School for Foreign Students…not the ideal beach holiday in Spain is it?! However, the classes proved to be very useful in terms of exam preparation and improving our linguistic skill. In the afternoons and evenings, we had many activities organised such as a tour of the Albaicín (the old Arabian district in Granada), the Alhambra palaces and its gardens, a town trail, seeing Confessions of a Shopaholic in the cinema (ALL in Spanish; not even with English subtitles!), a Rumba dance master class, a Flamenco show, a visit to the famous Park of Garcia Lorca and of course, SHOPPING! The unusual stairways, cascading waterfalls, dancing water fountains, legends and tales in the Alhambra and its gardens were incredible and an unforgettable experience. Definitely the highlight of the trip! Apart from the rain on the first couple of days, a few interesting experiences with the families and the long walks to get to the Alhambra, the trip was an amazing success and thoroughly enjoyed by everyone. It was highly educational and enriching, not only in language, but in history of Islamic Spain, art and culture too. Thanks go to Mrs Atkins, Mrs Birchall and Mrs Thompson for all their planning, time and support; we greatly appreciated and enjoyed every minute and we are already looking forward to the next trip!   Dima Mobarak, L6R

Snowdonia During Easter, year 8 pupils and staff spent 5 days in Snowdonia, staying in a residential lodge. The week was spent doing activities; mountain and gorge walking, abseiling and mountain biking in a gorgeous location.  The weather was good and everyone had a wonderful time.

D of E Gold Practice 19 girls got out their walking boots and spent 5 days and 4 nights trekking around Lake Ullswater and sleeping in various campsites to complete their gold D of E practice in the Lake district. With full rucksacks and enough food to feed a small army, they took in the breath taking views and completed the required distance in the required time. Well done.

Southern Africa For three weeks in the summer 2008, 24 girls and 3 staff  travelled to Namibia, Botswana and Zambia. They spent 2 days working (and playing) at Katora Primary School where they painted 2 classrooms before going off in search of wildlife and activities. The school entertained them with traditional dances and a game of netball. They visited the Okavango Delta, Etosha Game Park and Victoria Falls. They went  quad biking, bungee jumping and whitewater rafting on the Zambezi River before relaxing in the Warmbaths at Palapye Botswana, and returning home from Johannesburg. They all had a wonderful but tiring time with packing so much in, in 19 days, but everyone said they would love to return to Africa in the future.