A final reflection

Now we're all home safely, we can reflect upon the past week of excitement...

From the initial build up where we're writing lists, packing all the stuff and worrying that we'd forgotten something, through to the challenges of the organisation whilst on the trip (constantly counting our groups to make sure no-one had gone missing) and the challenge of keeping everyone as happy as possible (even when emotions are running high), I can safely say, at this point, WE MADE IT!

Every year we do this, there are different dynamics and the trip, whilst maintaining a similar content, always has a different flavour.  The reason for this is the people we take.  It's those wonderful teenagers, with their naivety and wonderment of the world around them that makes this trip so special.

This year, I have tried hard to ensure that the memories live on; through the blog, Instagram (#mathstagram), Twitter (@tuptonmaths #paris14) and finally, click here for a video of some of our best mathstagrams.

I have been inundated with pictures this year, so more videos will be added in time.

As ever, It's been a pleasure and a privilege and I look forward to the opportunity of doing it all over again next year (fingers crossed!)

Walto x

The last day :(

Like any good military operation, the cleaning, packing and tidying of 18 bedrooms is never a part we look forward to. This morning however went without a hitch. Yes there was rubbish, but to the credit if the pupils, it was all put in (or at least near) the bin. A final check for travel plugs, shampoo bottles and odd socks under the beds finished, we loaded up the coach ready for Peter to do I've us back to Chesterfield, normality and the start of the summer holidays.

The long coach journey back up to Calais was broken up by having the opportunity to vote in the #Paris14 awards. Categories include: Best dressed, least on time, biggest chav, most caring, etc. Nominations were collected in on the coach, analysis took place ready for the awards ceremony on the coach on the way home. We also heard the silky smooth dj'ing of 101.0 Walto FM as the heat on the coach (becoming known as the sweat box) gradually increased again.

A quick pit stop in Calais for food and shopping meant that we all had the chance to cool down, recharge our batteries and prepare for the ferry crossing home.  Excitement about the awards ceremony as growing as more and more lazy chatter turned to who was being voted for which category!

The ferry crossing again was really smooth, it was refreshing to be outside and get the breeze on our faces.  The teachers sat at a large bench and when pupils came up to us to say hi, we asked them to pull up a chair. (Look closely!)

More nominees for most gullible arose from this!

Back on the coach for the final push home.  The travelling does get everyone down but spirits remained high as we prepared for the awards...  Much hilarity ensued when the nominees were read out, winners were either shocked, pleased, amazed or in some cases dumbfounded that they had been nominated for "biggest ego"!

Now we had 3G back on our phones too, so Walto FM had a text in request session and a sleepiest person photo competition.  The nominations are below for you to decide who has won.  I know who I think! Post your comments below...

As the heat increased in the sweat box and as people became more anxious about getting home, there was a lull in the atmosphere, but a 45 minute break at the services to refuel our spirits helped.  Not long until everyone was back home reunited with their loved ones.

Another fantastic Walto-Tours event.

I hope to see you again soon.

Have a good summer

Walto x

And now, the end is near...

Our last full day in Paris was spent at the Disneyland resort. Unlike previous years where we only went into Disney on one day, this year with our new travel company we have been able to have 2 days. We went last night for a few hours to see the Disney Dreams light show and fireworks so today we went to the "Studios" part of the park in the morning and then the main park where the big pink princess castle is in the afternoon.

The studio park has fewer rides than the other side but some big roller coasters and high thrills rides (which I screamed my head off on). This picture tells a story!

In the afternoon we went into the other park and had enough time to do everything everyone wanted to do; see the parade, meet characters, go on rides, eat, see the sights, shop, explore...

We even had time to do a little bit of maths, looking at symmetry.

Another fantastic day where these Tupton Hall pupils made us proud to be their teachers and were a credit to us.

No one is looking forward to going home tomorrow :( But eventually everything good must come to an end.

Walto x

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.

Pupils, if you have any photos of the fireworks, please post them below as by now my battery was flat :(

So overall, another amazing day (a long day) but an amazing day.

Tomorrow more Disney (with maths thrown in for good measure)

Walto x

#paris14 A day of maths and sight seeing

A relatively peaceful night passed by. Everyone was tucked up and asleep by midnight apart from one of our group who had a minor sickness bug, but even she was fast asleep by 3.

We awoke bright and early ready for our amazing breakfast buffet (I think I may be falling in love with the hotel!)

The plan for the day was to visit the worlds largest science museum in an area called La Villette, Cite de science et industrie. Here, they explored Pythagoras's theorem, platonic solids, normal distribution curves, 3 dimensional coordinates, distance time graphs, fractals and chaos theory before having some free time to explore other scientific wonders in the park.

Following their fantastic efforts we ordered a treat for everyone at the Mc Do across the road. I'm not sure what they thought when we ordered 66 meals!!! And if you were wondering, this is what it looks like...

By now we were all ready for the next leg of Walto tours, sightseeing in Paris. We have seen some fantastic sights today, some from the road and some from our trip down the river Seine. In no particular order, we've seen:

1, The Eiffel Tower
2, The hotel d'invalides
3, Sacre Couer
4, Notre Dame
5, Grand Palais
6, Arc De triomphe
7, Place De la concorde
8, The Princess Diana Memorial
9, Musee D'orcy
10, The Louvre (from the outside)
11, The moulin rouge

To name but a few!

We had dinner just outside the Arc De triomphe where some of our party were very brave and spoke French and ate typical French food. Some of which they had never seen or heard of before.

On our way back, we had fun and games as DJ Walto took to mic (again) with a selection of cheesy sing along hits, to which I made a little bit if a fool of myself by singing again!

Now were back at the hotel and its all quiet before 11 tonight.

I think we've worn them out...

Walto x