So it was that very, very early on Sunday 9th February, thirty excited and a bit nervous Canons students, along with three equally excited members of staff, headed off to Gatwick airport to catch their flight to Turin in Italy.

From there it would be a 90km drive North West, heading for the Alps and the ski resort of Sauze D'Oulx.

Our party were staying in the Hotel Gran Bosco (Great Forest) and had an action packed week ahead of them.

Skiing

Our students, and teachers who hadn't skied before, could expect an amazing 30 hours of skiing ahead of them, including 20 hours of lessons with experienced local instructors.

Our Trip Leader was Mr B Rawlings (Faculty Leader of Sport, Health & Wellbeing) and was joined by Music teacher Mr M Tison and KS3 Learning Mentor Mrs M Lidington, herself a very experienced skiier.

Mr Rawlings said of the trip,

"We all ate a lot of pasta!. The students were brilliant, adjusting to their new overseas environment well and pushing themselves out of their comfort zone to try what was a brand-new activity for the vast majority."

A British couple also staying at the same hotel found themselves unexpectedly sharing it with a large high school group.

They felt inclined to write to our school to say how wonderful, polite and courteous our group were. If schools got online reviews, this would have been a five star!

Stand out students:

Andreea C (best skier), Perikles K (most positive cheerleader and photographer),  Alex M (most improved boy) & Malia A (most improved girl).

However, everyone was a winner and should all feel very pleased and proud of themselves.