Trips to Europe bring our Languages and History curriculum to life.
Foreign Travel
At Heritage we offer a small number of trips for Senior School pupils to mainland Europe where there is clear educational value. These trips occur mainly during school holidays, particularly the Easter holiday or the autumn half-term.
Every other year, Year 7 and 8 pupils are offered a week-long trip to a chateau in Normandy, to a French language immersion centre. With an animateur to ensure that all activities (including meals) are undertaken in French, pupils enjoy archery, climbing, assault courses, cultural visits to local markets, a goat farm, the Bayeux Tapestry and Mont St Michel. Their confidence in speaking and in understanding spoken French takes a great leap forward.
Similarly, an intensive Spanish language immersion trip is also offered to pupils in Years 8-10 every two or three years where there is sufficient demand.
A three-day World War I Battlefields trip to Belgium and France is also run jointly between the French and History departments every third year for pupils in Years 9-11. Visits to battlefields, cemeteries, and museums in and around Ypres, Arras and the Somme support the History curriculum and help pupils appreciate the terrible cost of WWI. A French-speaking animateur gives pupils opportunities to practice their language skills.
The per-pupil cost of these trips tends to be between £300 and £600.
We hope to be launching a French exchange programme soon.