One of our regular school trips every year is the Year 8 boys football tour to Jersey. Organised by Mr Russell, the boys get to play against his former school, Victoria College, and other teams whilst also getting time to see the sights of Jersey.
You can read more about the football tour below with a student report from Liam A (8E2) and as you will see it is popular trip with the boys, for the football and the multiple pit stops for food!
Day 1
After waking before the crack of dawn myself and 13 other Year 8 boys were dropped at school for a 4.30am. start. We were driven to Gatwick on the school minibus, happily waving goodbye to our parents, excited to be going on tour and having 2 days off school!
Once we had cleared security, we grabbed some food and headed to our gate. We boarded the plane and In the blink of an eye we had landed in Jersey, while the rest of Baddow were heading to registration.
On arrival at the airport, we picked up two rental mini-buses and drove to St Ouens Bay to have some time on the beach where we played some football, climbed a few small sand dunes and went exploring.
We moved on to St Brelades Bay for brunch at the Midbay Café. Around midday we made our way to the hotel where we un-packed and prepared for our first fixture against Victoria College. Upon arrival we were given a tour around the impressive and spacious grounds. Mr Russell was very keen for us to win, with Victoria College being his former school and as some of the staff members were his close friends, the stakes were high! Thankfully we triumphed with an impressive 7-1 win, with Harry F nominated ‘Man of the Match’ and Freddie C for scoring a memorable wonder goal from the halfway line.
We finished our evening with dinner at McDonalds and headed back to the hotel with a quick stop at our local corner shop to gather food supply's, we were all rather tired from our early start and I am sure that the teacher were too.
Day 2
We woke in time for breakfast in the hotel at 8 a.m. Shortly after 9.30 a.m. we walked into the town centre for an hour of shopping and sightseeing.
At 10.30 a.m. we headed to Aqua Splash, unfortunately the pool was closed for lessons, but we had fun on the slides for a few hours.
We then went to the market in the town centre of Jersey in St Helier and had pizza and pasta and looked around for a bit. After that we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our match against De la Salle.
We got off to a great start with Thomas M scoring the first goal in under one minute and Jaiden M bagging 4 goals. It was an emphatic 10-1 win! Our keeper Reggie H had to come off because of an injury so we had our second-best star keeper Phillp K step into goal.
Happy but heavy legged we made our way back to the hotel to shower and change for an enjoyable meal at Bella Italia.
Dav 3
We had a small lay-in before meeting for breakfast at 8.30 and Mr Russell and Mr Brittle gave out awards to Harry F and Freddie C for their amazing contributions on tour. After room inspections, Mr Russell and Mr Brittle drove us for the last time back to Jersey airport. We had a smooth journey back to Gatwick, landing just after 2 p.m. After what felt like a long drive back to school, we were collected by our parents at 5 p.m., all extremely grateful to have had such a good time away, certainly a trip that we will all remember for the rest of our lives!
Student Report
Liam A 8E2
