Tupton Pupils ARE the best

Our second full day in Paris means we're starting to get more acquainted with the city. After yesterday's tour of the city centre we knew that the layout of the land a little more for our packed day of educational and emotional challenges. Firstly, we wanted to go up the Eiffel tower, then we wanted the pupils to be independent and buy their own lunch at Le Jardin de Tuilleries before we moved on to the Louvre. All this before evening dinner and the Disney parade in the evening! This meant the only way we could cram in all of these cultural experiences was to be having breakfast by 7am and leaving the hotel by 8. This brings me to the first reason why Tupton Pupils are amazing. By 7 am this morning every single person was up, dressed and ready for breakfast without any fuss, arguments or dramas. 60 teenage boys and girls all dressed and ready before 7. I thought it was impossible!

As we were queuing to walk up the Eiffel Tower, several pupils came up to me to tell me how petrified they were about walking up the tower. Some were shaking, some had tears in their eyes. They were obviously about to attempt to overcome a huge personal obstacle and confront a deep seated fear. Another pupil was on crutches and said he was fine to go up but we were worried about him and wanted to ensure he didn't hurt himself trying to do something he maybe shouldn't... 679 steps later, we had tears of joy!!! Every single person made it to the top tower. Not in the lift, the easy way, but by sheer determination and will power. Pupils who were visibly shaking on the ground were now daring themselves to get to the edge for photographs to show their bravery to their friends, oh and to have "selfies" with me! When we had finished taking photos and high fiving, we made our way back down again (exuberant in the knowledge of our victory) to find that the adrenalin had caused our legs to shake more when we had finished than the fear had caused at the beginning! This has to be reason number 2 why we are immensely proud of our pupils.

Moving on to reason number 3. We gave each pupil some money to buy their lunch independent from us. This required the skill of "communicating with French people", something that adults have difficulty doing even when they speak some French. Again, every single pupil rose up to the challenge and no one was left hungry.

The next cultural experience of the day was multifaceted. Seeing some of the world's most famous art in one of the worlds largest (and therefore busiest) tourist attractions posed its own challenges. This is the part I fear the most. Ensuring we manoeuvre 66 people around an enormous art gallery without anyone being left behind is normally a challenge in itself. Today, the stakes were raised even higher as the "Denon" gallery which houses the Mona Lisa and Venus De Milo was so busy they closed it! This meant that we had to shepherd the pupils through heaving corridors of tourists from across the globe to eventually show them the Mina Lisa in order that they come the conclusion for themselves that its actually a bit rubbish! Quote of the day, "Why is the Mona Lisa so famous? Its not even that good!" What makes Tupton kids ace in the Louvre? Their patience, respect and ability to comprehend that this is a stressful situation for us as teachers.

A little bit of Walto tour guiding and a little sing song (make you feel my love by Adele) and we're back at the hotel for an evening meal and change before an evening excursion to Disneyland to watch the fireworks, music and light display.

The final way that our pupils made me proud today was in Disneyland. Their enthusiasm and thankfulness was in abundance. Some pupils were so overwhelmed by the emotion of Disney we had actual tears of joy.