Very early in the morning, the day after speech day, 52 very excited Year 7&8 pupils and 6 teachers set off to Barbados for a Cricket and Netball tour. Our objective of the tour was to give the pupils memories and experiences that they would remember and treasure for the rest of their lives. I think every single person on the touring party would agree that we certainly achieved this, with the most incredible 10 days!

The sport part of the tour was incredible, playing on pitches and courts nothing like the children had experienced before, in hot humid weather against opponents who may have come  from very different background to our pupils, but the sportsmanship, comradery, friendliness and fun between the teams was fantastic to see. We had 3 Cricket teams and 2 Netball teams and despite a few fixtures cancelled due to rain we still enjoyed 21 fixtures. The results were not the important part, but we did just about manage to win more than we lost! 

As well as the fixtures, we filled the week with lots of other fun and activities. We had 5 excursions, starting with a night out at Harbough Lights, this was an evening entertainment with dancing, singing, eating all in a fantastic location some of it on the beach. Next was a day at the beach club, an amazing venue, with the bluest sea and golden sand. We played lots of games in the water and enjoyed the food and drinks. The Jeep safari was certainly a day we will never forget, as we drove around the island on off road tracks, lots of adrenalin, lots of singing, beautiful scenery and an amazing lunch in an incredible restaurant with an incredible view. Then came the catamaran! A huge catamaran all to our self on a beautiful hot sunny day. We sailed through the Caribbean sea before stopping to snorkel in the blue seas to see the colourful fish and even giant turtles! We jumped off the catamaran and played in the sea and enjoyed some more great food. On the final day we visited the Kensington Oval, where only weeks before hosted the cricket 20/20 world cup final. We visited the charity “sport for life” who was based at the ground, this is a charity that the children had raised money for before we departed, we presented a cheque for £4920 which we had raised for them. We met some of the children the money will be helping and explained what different people had done to raise the money. The lady who set up the charity explained how the money will be used and what a difference it made to them, she was so grateful she started to cry whilst saying thank you, a touching moment for us all.

The fixtures and excursions were amazing, but the tour was about so much more, coming home from fixtures after playing in the hot sun, jumping in the pool, sharing stories which children in other teams about their matches, enjoying the cocktails (alcohol free!!), playing on the hotels beach and in the sea, singing karaoke with friends in the evening, eating together in the restaurant every day, and the MVPs from the fixtures, early morning workouts on the beach, watching England in the Euros final together in a small Barbados bar and so much more. All done with friends. As teachers we could not be prouder of the amazing pupils on the tour, we were regularly stopped by other guests in the hotel to say what polite and happy children we had in our school. A truly amazing 10 days.