Austria Summer Sports Trip - Zell Am See
Three days before the start of the summer holidays, 54 Year 9 pupils embarked on an action-packed trip to the lovely town of Zell Am See, Austria. Below is a snapshot of the day-to-day activities that the pupils threw themselves into and thoroughly enjoyed.
Thursday 17th - The day of arrival! Beautiful scenery on the approach to our hotel. Exploring the sights of Zell Am See town centre. Tea back at the hotel before walking along the lake path to watch the ‘Magic Lake Light Show’.
Friday 18th - Up bright and early for breakfast and to make lunch boxes for the day. Our activities for the day included kayaking in the lake and swimming in the outdoor pool and lido in the lake! Pupils loved the freedom of jumping off the huge inflatable trampoline into the lake multiple times! And in true Broughton style, our pupils created their own outdoor games, including Frisbee, on the grass area next to the lake, when they wanted a break from swimming! Our nighttime activities included bowling for one group and a quiz for the other group.
Saturday 19th - The whole group travelled to Kaprun to visit the pump storage scheme power generation plant and walk up the beautiful Sigmund Thun Klamm to the fishing lake. We then continued our journey the Kitzsteinhorn where we took the cable car to the Alpincentre and then to the summit, 3020m, to explore the top of the glacier. We finished the day by having a thrill-seeking ride on the Maisi Flitzer Rodelbahn (toboggan)! Nighttime activities were the alternative from the night before … bowling and a quiz.
Sunday 20th - After a night of heavy rain and thunderstorms, the river Saalzach was looking nice and full for our white-water rafting experience! Many pupils said this was their favourite activity yet! A thoroughly exhilarating experience for both pupils and staff, many of who also got well acquainted with the water! The second half of the day was spent relaxing by the outdoor pool or in the lake. At nighttime we gave pupils the opportunity for some recreational sports including; Rounders, Football and Volleyball, finishing off with some ‘old school’ sports day team races!
Monday 21st - We visited the Schmittenhoe mountain where we travelled up the mountain in the cable cars and once at the top walked to the viewing platform. At times we were even in the clouds! Once we’d spent some time at the top, we walked along the well-trodden paths that went across the mountain, to another cable car to get down the mountain. We walked around 4.5km before heading down after a spot of lunch at the top. The rain came down whilst we were in the cable car, so we decided an indoor swimming pool was the best option for our second activity of the day. The pool featured a diving board and a slide which kept everybody well occupied!
Tuesday 22nd - Our final day of activities in Zell am See! We split into our two groups today and whilst one went on a 25km scenic bike tour around the valley of Kaprun, the other group went paddle boarding on lake Zell. In the afternoon we switched activities and still had time for some chill out by the outdoor pool once we were all back together. We finished our day with singing, dancing and competitions led by the TGM staff.
A thoroughly enjoyable trip that has challenged our pupils to build resilience, team working skills and effective communication within a range of activities and scenarios. Alongside this, the pupils experienced valuable cross-curricular links throughout the week, most noticeably Geography and it was fantastic to see pupils using their knowledge to explain how the beautiful landscape had been formed!
A huge thank you to all the pupils who came with us on the trip, they were a credit to the school from start to finish and can be extremely proud of how they conducted themselves. Finally, a special mention to Mrs Bamber, Mr Marquis, Miss Klunder, Mrs Lupton and Mr Allen for giving up their time to allow this trip to happen.
Mr Cowen
