Over half term 42 students from Years 9, 10 and 11 were lucky enough to visit Pinzolo, Italy for a week of sunny skiing. Setting off from school, the coach journey through France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland and finally Italy was always going to be the most challenging part of the trip. However, the journey, scheduled to last only 18 hours, ended up being 27 hours due to a technical fault with a sensor on the bus! Despite this, when we finally arrived, spirits were high as we explored the hotel and settled into our rooms together.

The next morning, we were all awake at 6.00am to grab breakfast and then get boots and skis fitted, before heading out onto the slopes. We were organised into groups according to ability and quickly set off to explore the beautiful Italian slopes in the safe hands of local instructors. My instructor Bendy, was an amazing teacher and lots of fun; we liked to say he was “Bendy by name and bendy by nature” because he was always jumping and spinning down the mountain.

I am very proud to say that I didn’t fall at all during the week, but there were many, many falls throughout the group. My personal favourite was when Jemima slid down the slope and lodged her skiis into the mountain and flew half way up the piste! Thankfully she wasn’t hurt.

After dinner there were activities hosted by the teachers; we had a trip into the town to shop, to have ice cream and best of all, a quiz. I think we can all agree that Mr Breslin needs to go back to physics class as he claims the only star in the solar system is him!

The food in the hotel was very Italian: big portions of pasta every night! On Valentine’s Day we all went out to a pizzeria and had a “Galentine’s” romantic dinner.

One of the highlights of the week had to be when Mr Breslin appeared on the final day sporting a bright yellow, all-in-one, downhill racing ski suit, slightly reminiscent of a banana.

Huge thanks to Miss Dale, Mr Breslin, Miss Cowx, Miss Walshe, Miss Tidy and Mr Trendell for being amazing the entire week, and especially to Miss Walshe who sacrificed her lunch when she fell flat on her back like a tortoise trying to ski on one ski because I encouraged her (sorry Miss Walshe!). We will all have wonderful memories of Pinzolo!

Maddy, Year 11

To see more photos from the ski trip please visit Flickr