Plea for photos and videos

Hi there,

The process of making the ski trip DVD has begun. Could students bring any photos or video of the holiday to me so it can be included. The more pictures we have the better and it would be good to share the pictures between everyone.

Can I just praise all the students on the trip for there excellent behaviour. They were great ambassadors for the school.

Also I hope everyone has a speedy recovery from any knocks and injuries.

Until next year, bye

Over and Out

Hi there,

This will be the final post from Switzerland. (Almost) everyone is off at the moment enjoying the final days skiing. There are a couple of people who have taken knocks and are having a rest today. There was much drama yesterday as Sam Cheetham (who gets the award for most injuries in a week) was helicoptered to hospital to check a back injury. Fortunately everything was fine and the check was just a precaution, although it is still sore.

Anyway we'll see you soon as after todays skiing we will be beginning the return journey. We are checking into a Geneva Airport Hotel tonight so we will only have a 5 minute walk to departures in the morning. We leave Geneva at 11:45am Bahrain time and are due to land at 9pm at BIA. Please be there promptly to collect.

See you soon!!!

Mr Pollard

Student Post

Just a quick update and a few student posts (see below).

Another successful day on the slopes and no new (serious) injuries. All groups are now venturing further afield, taking in lots of beautiful scenery and having loads of fun.

Last night was disco night! It took a while to warm up, the girls got straight on the dance floor but the boys sat it out looking grumpy and complaining about the music. Not enough Slipknot apparently!!! But by the end (almost) everyone was up and dancing, even to High School Musical songs, would you believe it. I can't wait for the DVD!!! Ha Ha. Everyone had lots of fun.

Two more days skiing left, today (Friday) and tomorrow. We are also going to visit the thermal bathes tonight. I'm sure there will be plenty of weary muscles that will be thankful of a good soak.

Anyway here are a few of the students messages (I think the mountain air has got to some of them).

I'll try to make one final post before we start our journey back. We should be arriving back in Bahrain around 9pm on Sunday.

Mr Pollard

Kailan

Hi mum,

I'm in switzerland and ur not. Haha

Make beck and jess jealous for me. Haha

Kailan.

PS. I cant dance.

Konrad

date: unknown

Location: unknown

I think the teachers are plotting to assassinate us, Mr. Pollard is going insane! I need to get out of here! My ski instructor is flirting with miss Hilton and I think I have gone paranoid, wait, what was that?! Mr Pollard is a werewolf! Help! hgjklbvnm,

Konrad out

Meher

Hey mom!!!

how are you??

I miss u guys so much. Skiing is so much fun, and snow is amazing!

I cant wait to come home!! how is dada and dadi and dad??

love you so much, see you in a bit!!! :)

bye

xoxoxoxox

Celine

Hallo mamma

Hoe gaat het?

Met mij gaat het goed!

Ik heb een heel leuke dag gehad

Ik ging naar Frankrich skien het was heel leuk!

Ik ging gewoon mij knee een beetje zeer doen maar het gaat goed...

Opa+Oma Vaandrager gingen mij bellen

Tante Corrine ging mij een SMS stuuren

Ik ga jij moorgen bellen

kus kus kus

Liefs Celine

x x x x x

Lara

Hi mummy hows u?

I tried ringing today (Thursday) buts u were not there!

I spoke to Kiera, Emmanuelle, Luke, Jake, Maia and Raef.

I will ring u 2morrow (Friday)

loves u

Lara

Hi Richard

Miracle, I finally got this blog thingy figured!

We hope you are having a great time. I like the idea of room inspection. You must show us how it works ha!ha!

We are all off to the track tomorrow.

If you need anything send a text sms anytime.

Love mum & dad.

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your comments, I will pass them on to the students.

Everyone has settled into the routine here now. Early mornings, long tiring days skiing, hearty evening meals and evening activities. We have had two full days skiing since the last post and everyone has really improved their skiing.

The advanced group have been traveling miles each day zig zaging into and out of France and Switzerland and improving their technique.

The intermediate groups have been growing in confidence and tackling increasingly difficult pistes including some red runs (no blacks as yet).

But the group that has definitely made the most improvement is the beginners group. They took part in a slalom competition this morning and some students look like they have been skiing for weeks despite the fact that some of them only saw snow for the first time this week. They have also been going higher and higher up our home slope 'La Jollet'. They still need to fine tune their control but they have lots of time to improve before the end of the week.

We have had a few more bumps, bruises, twists and verrucas but most students are fine apart from a few aches. Myself and Alastair are the worst injuries both having twisted a knee. Alistair's injury was sustained in far more impressive style than my own though. In trying to avoid colliding with someone, he flew off piste and closely inspected a tree. I on the other hand fell off a chairlift while trying to get off it. Ouch! A couple of students are out of action today but will hopefully be back on the slopes tommorrow.

Tuesday evening the group went snow shoe (the modern equivalent of tennis rackets on your feet) walking through the woods near the chalet. The way was lit by carrying burning torches. The students really seemed to enjoy it and found it quite spooky. Also it is another experience that it is impossible to replicate in Bahrain.

Last Night (Wednesday) was torch lit skiing. The sight of dozens of students snaking down the mountain with burning torches was a sight to behold and again this is the kind of experience you don't often get the chance to take part in.

The weatherhas stayed cold. We had a little light snow yesterday and the temperature has not been above -5 degrees C since we arrived dropping as low as -15 or less at night.

Until the next post, Au Revoir

Mr Pollard

PS. I've finally managed to get some photos up. Don't worry there will be thousands more pictures for you to look through later. Bye

Here, tired but very happy!!!

Hi Guys,

Sorry it's taken so long to get a post up, the technology has gone backwards since last year. They are hoping to have a WiFi connection in resort soon, but alas after we depart. I will try to keep the blog updated at least every other day and hopefully get some pictures up for you to have a nosey.

Anyway onto the important stuff. After a mamouth journey we finally all arrived, tired but in good spirits, late afternoon yesterday (Sunday). We got settled in, had some food and sorted out all the kit that would be needed for the first days skiing. Everyone was really tired and in need of some quality so the students started to get settled in their rooms aroiund 9pm.

Today (Monday)

7am wake up call

7.45 room inspection (it's amazing how much mess can be created in less than 24 hours)

8am breakfast

9am sorting ski equipment

10am We hit the slopes

We skied from 10am until 4pm with a hour break for lunch. The instructors are fantastic as usual. Very patient and helpful with the beginners, stretching the intermediates and really challenging the advanced group. Most groups have stayed on the slope next to Torgon today but the intermediates and advanced groups will be going further afield tommorrow (Tuesday). The weather has been VERY cold, the maximum temperature today was -6 degrees C. The upside is that cold weather is good for skiing. The locals have said that it is the best start to a ski season for 30 years. There is lots of powdery snow and not much ice.

No major injuries to report, just bumps bruises and sprains. We've had our evening meal and everyone is currently enjoying a game of bingo (we were supposed to be using the indoor climbing wall but it is just too cold, in the minus teens tonight) and will be off to bed shortly to rest weary bodies.

Thats all for now, I'll try to post again soon (and get the students to write if they want to) and I'll pass all your messages on to them.

Bye

Mr Pollard

hi em's, hope you're not too tired from all the travelling!
have a ball on the slopes...its cold here too!
mum,dad,chloe & tina xxx

Have fun

Hope you all had a good journey and are getting settled in.

Have fun skiing tomorrow.

safe journey 2nite..hope you all enjoy the snow!

Departure Day!!!

Hi Guys,

The countdown has ended, we're leaving for switzerland tonight. Hope that you are all excited and looking forward to a week of skiing and fun. We'll see you at the airport at 23:45. Make sure you don't forget anything essential (passport, Haribo etc).

Mr P