Residential Visits in 2023-2024

Year 4

Our Year 4 children have visited Boreatton Hall in Shropshire. The visit took place from Wednesday 1st May - Friday 3rd May 2024. The mansion house was built in 1857 and is a rare ‘calendar’ house with four main doors, 12 chimneys and 365 windows! Boreatton Park has everything you might need including a brilliant sports/activity hall with its superb climbing wall. They’ve also got a football pitch, a purpose-built dining room and the ‘Mini Moose’ lounge. Their 240 acres of grounds include a river, three lakes and abseiling towers. There are also five zip wires (including one across a lake), abseil towers, a high ropes course, Jacobs’ Ladders, five quad bike tracks, six giant swings and more!

There are more photographs from Year 4's PGL Visit in the Children's section, under Class Pages, Year 4, Photographs 2023-2024.

Year 5

Our Year 5 children took part in a 4 day residential to northern France from Monday 1st July to Friday 5th July 2024. The children stayed in the magnificent Chateau du Broutel near the town of Rue in several acres of beautiful grounds.  In order to develop their cultural knowledge of France the children visited a snail farm. They also visited a chocolate factory and saw how chocolate is produced. One of the highlights of the visit was a visit to the town of Albert in the Somme. This area was in the heart of the fighting in the Great War. During the day the children visited the famous Battle of the Somme Museum and then visited the memorial site at Thiepval before visiting the trenches at the Newfoundland Regiment Memorial.

Click here to see photographs from our trip!

Year 6

Our Year 6 children took part in a 7 day ski course in Bormio, North-West Italy from Sunday 21st January 2024 to Sunday 28th January 2024.

Click here to see photographs from our trip!

Click here to see photographs from our trip!

Click here to see photographs from our trip!

Residential Visits - 2021-2022

Year 4 - PGL - Boreatton Hall in Shropshire

Our Year 4 children will be visiting Boreatton Hall in Shropshire. The visit will take place from 27th - 29th April 2022. The mansion house was built in 1857 and is a rare ‘calendar’ house with four main doors, 12 chimneys and 365 windows! Boreatton Park has everything you might need including a brilliant sports/activity hall with its superb climbing wall. They’ve also got a football pitch, a purpose-built dining room and the ‘Mini Moose’ lounge. Their 240 acres of grounds include a river, three lakes and abseiling towers. There are also five zip wires (including one across a lake), abseil towers, a high ropes course, Jacobs’ Ladders, five quad bike tracks, six giant swings and more!

Click here to see photographs from our trip!

Year 6 - Lockerbie Manor in Scotland

Our Year 6 children will be visiting Lockerbie manor in Scotland from 20th June - 22nd June 2022. Built in 1814, Lockerbie Manor has a great history and has retained many of the original features with its master staircase, ornate ceilings and wood panelling. Before it was transformed into a country hotel it was the home of the Marquis of Queensberry, who formulated the "Queensbury" boxing rules in what is now the Dining Room.

Click here to see photographs from our trip!

Residential Visit - France 2019

PGL Residential

Year 4

24th to 26th April 2019

YEAR 5 TRIP TO CHATEAU DU BROUTEL

FRANCE

July 2018

Monday 2nd July

Waiting for the Eurostar.

Ski trip 2018

Le Corbier

Outbound - Saturday 20th January John Lennon Airport, flight EZY 7263

Please arrive by 11.30a.m.

Return - Saturday 27th January Grenoble Airport, flight EZY 7264

Arriving at John Lennon Airport at approximately, 7.40 p.m. 

**Remember to pack ski socks and 2 packed lunches in your hand luggage.

( no drinks or yogurts) 

YEAR 5 TRIP TO CHATEAU DU BROUTEL

FRANCE

3rd-7th JULY 2017

Monday 3rd July

Chateau Olympics

Tuesday 4th July

Obstacle course & zip wire

Today the children had a fun packed morning in the grounds of the Chateau. They were split into two groups then enjoyed time on the zip wire and the obstacle course. 

Rue Tour

After a filling lunch, we put on our walking shoes and set off into Rue. Our Chateau guides told the children about the history of the town and we visited the Bell Tower, (Beffroi) the museum and local church. Afterwards, the children practised their French speaking skills  in 'Cafe du Commerce'. They ordered drinks and had ice cream whilst sitting in the sun. 

Wednesday 5th July

Chocolate Factory and Farm

Rafting and Kayaking

Thursday 6th July

Today is our final day of adventure in France and we began by visiting the town of Albert. We visited the Battle of Somme museum. This was an underground tunnel in medieval times to avoid the plague and later, during the Second World War, an air raid shelter. The children were guided through the museum which depicts many scenes of life in the trenches for all those who fought. There were also many exhibits of various rifles, trench art and other weapons used in this conflict. The children were also shown the uniform of a 'Tommy' and given the opportunity to dress up as one and feel the weight of all the equipment. Well done Levi!

Afterwards, we visited the Lochnagar crater. British sappers spent weeks prior to the 1st July 1916, digging tunnels deep under German positions. They packed the tunnel with 28 tonnes of explosives and exploded it on July 1st at 07.28, just 2 minutes before troops left their trenches. The crater is 91 metres in diameter and 21 metres in depth . The explosion was heard in London!

After lunch we visited the largest British/ French war cemetery in the world 'Thiepval'. The children had opportunity to reflect on those soldiers who gave up their lives in the Great War. They spent time looking at individual graves and lay down a cross in respect for the soldiers courage and bravery. 

Finally, at Beaumont-Hamel,  we remembered the Newfoundland Regiment's valiant advance on the 1st July. The children walked in the same trenches that the young soldiers had built back in 1916.  Of the 800 who advanced, only 68 answered the roll call at the end of the day.

Somme: Battlefields

Year 5 Trip to Chateau du Broutel

France

20th -24th June 2016

Waiting patiently to go through the Euro Tunnel 

Monday 20th June

Arrival at the Chateau

Bonjour everyone!! We finally arrived safely at Chateau du Broutel this evening after a long but exciting coach journey. We were immediately met by the wonderful staff who then led us all to our lovely rooms (no doubt the children will sleep well tonight after their very early wake up call). A tasty evening meal was served and then the children explored the grounds before heading off to bed. 

Tuesday 21st June

Kayaking and Rafting- Tour of Rue

Today the children had a fun packed morning in the grounds of the Chateau. They were split into two groups then got wet and wild as they took part in kayaking and raft building activities at the Lakeside. 
After a filling lunch, we put on our walking shoes and set off into Rue. Our Chateau guides told the children  about the history of the town as we visited the Bell Tower,( Beffroi) the museum and the local church. We also saw a building that used to be a public house - now holiday home- which appeared in the Harry Potter film 'The Prisoners of Azkaban'. 
Afterwards, the children had the opportunity to show off their French speaking skills and spend some of their Euros when they visited a local cafe ( Cafe du Commerce ) to buy a drink. 

Wednesday 22nd June

Chocolate Factory & Goat Farm

The children have had another brilliant day! The morning began with a trip to the 'Beussent' chocolate factory. During the workshop, we were shown how different types of chocolate is made and moulded into shapes ready for the shops. We even got to try a few samples and spend some more euros. 
Our next stop was the goat farm. We received a warm welcome from Eliane, the owner. She spoke only  in French to the children but they were excellent at interpreting what she said. We then had the opportunity to handle and feed some of the farm animals. The children saw baby goats - chevreau, cows - vaches, chicken - poules, rabbits - lapins. Eliane then gave us a fascinating demonstration of how to make cheese from goats milk. 

Thursday 23rd June

Somme: Battlefields Tour

This year is 100 years since the 'Battle of Somme' took place. We are therefore very privileged to visit these sites in such a special year of remembrance. 

Our day began by visiting the town of Albert, site of fierce fighting during the Great War. We saw the famous Basillica of Notre Dame de Brebieres , whose statue of the Virgin Mary toppled, fulfilling the legend that this would signal the end of the war!

We visited the Battle of Somme museum. This was an underground tunnel in medieval times to avoid the plague and later, during the Second World War, an air raid shelter. The children were guided through the museum which depicts many scenes of life in the trenches for all those who fought. There were also many exhibits of various rifles, trench art and other weapons used in this conflict. The children were also shown the uniform of a 'Tommy' and given the opportunity to dress up as one and feel the weight of all the equipment. Well done Harry!

After lunch, we visited the Lochnagar crater. British sappers spent weeks prior to the 1st July 1916, digging tunnels deep under German positions. They packed the tunnel with 28 tonnes of explosives and exploded it on July 1st at 07.28, just 2 minutes before troops left their trenches. The crater is 91 metres in diameter and 21 metres in depth . The explosion was heard in London!

We visited Beaumont-Hamel where we remembered the Newfoundland Regiment's valiant advance on the 1st July. The children walked in the same trenches that the young soldiers had built back in 1916.  Of the 800 who advanced, only 68 answered the roll call at the end of the day.

Finally, the children were given the opportunity to visit both a German and British war cemetery where we reflected on the terrible loss of life and listened to Mr Williams read poems by a variety of war poets:

They shall not grow old,
as we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them,
nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun 
and in the morning
We will remember them

Liverpool Primary Ski Association

Serre Chevalier

12th-19th March 2016

Perfect skiing conditions greeted us this morning for our last day on the slopes and the children spent the day perfecting their techniques whilst the instructors completed their final assessments of the children for the presentation later this evening at the hotel. The children had a great day before skiing was finally over for this year.

After dinner Liverpool Primary Ski Association presentation took place; a wonderful evening celebrating the successes from this year's ski course.

The winners from our school were:

Best technical skier: Dani Albouaini

Most improved skier: Josh Geoghegan

Star pupil: Daniel Penny

Best diary: Anna Verma and Sophie Carley

Best room: Mete Zacharkiw, Alex Williams and Dani Albouaini

Other awards: Cameron Rooney, Lewis Godby, Emmett Cain, Maria Czerepak, 

Thank you to Mr Tony McKee (Mr McSki) and the team of people involved in the Liverpool Primary Ski Course for organising such an amazing experience in Serre Chevalier, I'm sure the children will remember this trip forever.

Well the sun finally began to shine today in Serre Chevalier and the weather a little warmer. The children have certainly improved further and have completed longer and more difficult runs. All groups have now accomplished certainly green slopes, some blue and parts of red and the more advanced groups completing a far stretch of a black slope, which is quite remarkable!

Some groups skied into the breath taking valley of Briancon (photographs) Wow! We pretty much had the valley to ourselves! It was a beautiful sight to remember.

The afternoon’s ski lesson came to an end with a race between Mr McKee (head of the Liverpool Ski Association) v Lewis Godby. The deal was, if Lewis won, it was crepes all round for our ski group at Mr McKee's expense. Well Done Lewis, they tasted delicious!

We're just about to head for tonight's entertainment, the highlight of the week, the disco! The children have been busy completing their diaries throughout the week as their entrance ticket to the disco! They better be good!

Last ski day tomorrow  We'll make sure it's the best!

Skier of the day: Olivia Evans

I can't believe we're over halfway through our trip now and the children are sleeping later in the mornings, worn out from the busy days and evenings here at Serre Chevalier. Today was another great day. All children skiing wonderfully well, some groups even skied into the 'Villeneuve' valley, which which was quite hair raising at times but able to try out skills taught from the technical parts of the ski lessons.

Last night we walked into the beautiful village to have look around and spend some of our Euros and practise our French. After that, we watched Madagascar which most children fell asleep throughout! Early to bed and not a sound after 9.30p.m (result!) 

Skier of the day: Emre

Today was a brilliant day on the mountain. Almost all children have progressed well and truly from the nursery slopes, to green, some blue and some even managed to cross part of a black run this afternoon!!! Wow, that takes some doing! (and nerve!)

We are amazed by their achievements, perseverance and positive attitudes and if they continue like this, they will succeed in getting the very best out of a wonderful week of skiing to remember forever.

In the evening we were very lucky to watch a breathtaking display of fireworks and a torch lit procession, in the local village, to mark the opening of the ‘Special Olympics Competition’, held this year, in Serre Chevalier. There was a wonderful atmosphere and we even got to see some of the GB team.

http://specialolympicsgb.org.uk/our-national-alpine-skiing-competition-gets-under-way-serre-chevalier-vallée

Skiers of the day Anna Verma and Ethan Constantine

The children were rearing to go this morning and our first ski sessions today were amazing! ALL children have mastered snow plough turns and had very few falls!  This afternoon they even got to go on the drag lifts and ski back down the nursery slopes. The progress they have made in the first day of skiing is fantastic!

After a well deserved dinner, we await the results of room inspection, points given for the tidiest room, and later this evening will be quiz night! We are certain we will all sleep soundly tonight!

Skier of the day, Cian Moran

After a very long journey we finally arrived at the beautiful resort of Serre Chevalier, Hotel Olympic. The behaviour of all children was absolutely outstanding throughout the travel and we received many compliments during the trip from other passengers.

When we finally arrived, we were met by the very friendly hotel staff who welcomed us with a hearty evening meal. After dinner, we quickly went straight to be fitted for our boots, helmets and skis ready for the first morning of skiing.

Off to bed to catch up on sleep, ready for a busy day ahead tomorrow x

Their attitude has been admirable and you should all be very proud of them. (We are!)

Year 5 Trip to Chateau du Broutel, France, 2015

The Newfoundland and Memorial Beaumont-Hamel

Here we walked through the preserved trenches and imagined what it was like in the battlefield.  We climbed to the top of the Caribou mound which  faces towards the the German lines and this gave a clear view of the battlefield and trenches.

Here suffered one of the highest casualty rates on the 1st July, making this one of the bloodiest actions of the Somme. Commemorative ceremonies are held at the memorial every year on this day.

The Franco-British Memorial, otherwise known as the memorial of missing soldiers. This is the largest British  was memorial in the world and has over 72 205 names of the missing soldiers engraved on the stone pillars. The memorial was built to commemorate the lives of the armies who were declared missing from the Battle of Somme, the bloodiest war.

In front of the memorial is the cemetery dedicated to the soldiers. Here we listened to stories and the children were surprised to find out that some of the soldiers were actually only 14 when they went to war!

Mr. Williams read a selection of poems which led nicely to a walk around the cemetery to reflect upon the lives of the soldiers and their sufferings. The children were each given an Emmaus cross to place on the grave of a soldier of their choice. This was a very moving moment, as you see from the photographs, and it was lovely to see the children show their respects and remember the soldiers who fought in this battle.

This morning we visited the town of Albert. This town was occupied by the Germans in 1914 and during the Battle of Somme, became a centre for military activity. After the war nothing remained. 

We went inside the Basilica to see the beautiful display of architecture built in 1885-1897. The top steeple was hit on the 15th January 1915 by a German shell causing the statue of Mary to tip over to a horizontal position. 

We lit a candle  for our friends and family.

After this, we went to The Somme Museum. in the reconstructed trenches we were able to discover and understand the hard life the soldiers encountered and how they faced their enemies whilst living in very poor conditions.

We looked at a vast collection of objects, weapons, military and personal souvenirs of men at war whilst walking through a tunnel which measured 250 meters in length and 10 metres deep.

Tuesday

Bonjour! Today the children had a fun packed morning in the grounds of the Chateau. Two of the groups took part in kayaking and raft building activities at the lakeside whilst the other two groups went on the adventurous climbing wall and assault course. (Tomorrow the groups will swap over). 

Ski Trip 2015

We set off in the early hours of Saturday 7th March to Alpe d'Huez once again. Follow our progress in the ski diary below...

Ski Trip 2014

In March 2014 twenty six of our Year 6 pupils took part in the ski trip to France organised by the Liverpool Primary Ski Association. We visited the beautiful resort of Alpe D'Huez along with over 100 other children from Liverpool Schools. It was a superbly well organised trip from start to finish - although meeting at 3.00am to get the coach to the airport proved a challenge for children and staff alike!!

Whilst we were there we had six days of fantastic skiing tuition in what can only be descibed as a stunning location. Everyone was a bit nervous and "unsteady" on the first day or so, but as confidence and expertise increased the children wanted to challenge themselves more and more. Over the next few days we moved on to progressively steeper slopes with small bumps, slalom courses and turns to negotiate. By the end of the week the  children's progress was astonishing.

This progress was not limited to the slopes though. As with any residential trip, the effect on so many other skills and perceptions is enormous. Such trips help to build independance, confidence, resilience, determination, self reliance, organisation (for once at least they have to keep their own place tidy and know where their things are!), social skills, budgeting and aspiration. What an experience for the children to get!