need help for a school trip!

Benedicte

Hi !
I’m posting again on the board to get advice for our school trip. I sought help here 2 years ago and many board members were very helpful.
I’m coming back to Galway from May 25th to May 31st with 48 French school kids (Year 9, aged 13).
As was suggested in some replies on the board, I’ve added some golf practise at Glenlo Hotel in our programme. It’s great fun. The staff is very friendly. It’s a lovely place to go to with kids.

This year, I’d like to add a morning visit in a comprehensive school so that the pupils could discover the Irish school system, exchange with Irish pupils in English and French and share a few activities. That would be either on Monday 28th, Tuesday 29th or Thursday 31st. I know 48 pupils (+4 adults) is quite a crowd to bring in a school and how disruptive for the host school it can be! :eek:

I’d be very grateful if anyone could recommend me schools I should contact to try and set up a meeting. Perhaps some teachers are members on this board and may be interested in this activity.

Our kids come from small villages in the North of France and are students in a state secondary school (about 700 pupils). We teach Year 7 to Year 10. The kids who are coming are well-behaved and eager to learn English.
Thanks a lot for your help!

Is Mise Le Meas (hope I got that right !!)

Bénédicte

Mrs OBumble

What ages do those year numbers mean?

Benedicte

The pupils in the group are 13 years old. So that's their third year in the comprehensive school and they've been learning English for 3 years too.

biko

Mail/ring the headmaster in every secondary school in the city?
You'll need their approval anyway to visit (je suppose).
http://www.galway-ireland.ie/secondary-schools.htm

IMightKnow

Benedicte

I think you should know that secondary school pupils will be finishing up school around the 25th of May.

As the children you are bringing are 13 years old they would be about the same age as the oldest year of primary school (6th class students are 12-13 years old) so perhaps this will be the option you will have to take.

Primary school continues for about a month after secondary school. Be aware though that primary schools tend to be much smaller than secondary schools and the children there will most likely not have began learning french at all.

Hope this helps

Benedicte

Thank you very much for your answers! it's great to get some help so quick.
It's not the first I've come to Galway but I keep forgetting that secondary schools usually finish by the end of May.
Anyway, I'll use the link given by biko and send emails to primary and secondary school headmaters and see if we can sort something out. I bear in mind that we hace a fairly large group, which isn't very convenient! If we can't organise a school visit, I've planned other activities that kids usually enjoy. All the children who came the previous years still keep a very fond memory of Ireland.

biko

Perhaps you can split the large group into two smaller groups, even if it's just for 2/3 hours? And visit two schools?

Benedicte

yep, that's a good idea!...as long as both schools aren't too far away from each other so it won't add up on the coach rates.(we work with a local coach company for the whole week)

biko

Some schools are close to each other, for instance the Bish and Pres in the city centre is 5 mins walk from each other. A few more not far, the Jes etc.

http://www.presgalway.ie/
http://www.bish.ie/
http://www.colaisteiognaid.ie/

Benedicte

Thanks; you're very helpful. I've had a quick look at the links and just realised that I'll probably have to split the group in 2 since Irish schools are not necessarily mixed schools. I'll have to check that too. All State and most Catholic shools are mixed schools in France, hence my mistake.

kabakuyu

biko wrote: »

Some schools are close to each other, for instance the Bish and Pres in the city centre is 5 mins walk from each other. A few more not far, the Jes etc.

http://www.presgalway.ie/
http://www.bish.ie/
http://www.colaisteiognaid.ie/

The Mercy is also close to these schools.

http://www.mercygalway.ie/

Benedicte

ok; thanks for the link.

Fuinseog

Benedicte wrote: »

Hi !
I’m posting again on the board to get advice for our school trip. I sought help here 2 years ago and many board members were very helpful.
I’m coming back to Galway from May 25th to May 31st with 48 French school kids (Year 9, aged 13).
As was suggested in some replies on the board, I’ve added some golf practise at Glenlo Hotel in our programme. It’s great fun. The staff is very friendly. It’s a lovely place to go to with kids.

This year, I’d like to add a morning visit in a comprehensive school so that the pupils could discover the Irish school system, exchange with Irish pupils in English and French and share a few activities. That would be either on Monday 28th, Tuesday 29th or Thursday 31st. I know 48 pupils (+4 adults) is quite a crowd to bring in a school and how disruptive for the host school it can be! :eek:

I’d be very grateful if anyone could recommend me schools I should contact to try and set up a meeting. Perhaps some teachers are members on this board and may be interested in this activity.

Our kids come from small villages in the North of France and are students in a state secondary school (about 700 pupils). We teach Year 7 to Year 10. The kids who are coming are well-behaved and eager to learn English.
Thanks a lot for your help!

Is Mise Le Meas (hope I got that right !!)

Bénédicte

the end of May is usually exam time and no classes are held. 13 year olds would be First years at Secondary School here.

ilovesleep

Can I suggest Spiddal village and in Irish it is An Spideal.

It is a village 12 miles west from Galway city and a 30 minute drive from the Galway city. It is situated beside the sea. There is a large mixed secondary school in the village called Colaiste Chroi Mhuire.

It might be nice to take the kids to a rural village since you wrote that the kids come from villages in France.

Other things to do and see in Spiddal would include:
The Craft Centre - this comprises of several small craft shops such as pottery, knitting, music, jewellery

Maybe also you could fit in a visit to the set of Ros Na Run, also based in Spiddal. Ros Na Run is an Irishmade soap opera through Irish shown on TG4 - an speaking channel.

Benedicte

ilovesleep wrote: »

Can I suggest Spiddal village and in Irish it is An Spideal.

It is a village 12 miles west from Galway city and a 30 minute drive from the Galway city. It is situated beside the sea. There is a large mixed secondary school in the village called Colaiste Chroi Mhuire.

It might be nice to take the kids to a rural village since you wrote that the kids come from villages in France.

Other things to do and see in Spiddal would include:
The Craft Centre - this comprises of several small craft shops such as pottery, knitting, music, jewellery

Maybe also you could fit in a visit to the set of Ros Na Run, also based in Spiddal. Ros Na Run is an Irishmade soap opera through Irish shown on TG4 - an speaking channel.

That's brilliant! I remember seeing the TG4 building along the road last year (while we were driving to Rossaveel if I get directions right!) The coach driver told me about this Irish-speaking tv channel but I never thought we could visit the set of a TV soap. That'd be quite interesting and a rather unusual sort of visit for the kids. I'll send a mail to the headquaters in Galway and see what they suggest (I need to check rates too!). I'm glad if there's a mixed secondary school too in the same area; that would be easier than having to split the group in two and schedule two visits in 2 different places! Yet, as mentionned in other replies, the end of May is an exam period and / or end of the term so it might not be the best of times to host a foreign group. I'll try and contact the school you suggested and see what the Principal say.
School children in Ireland never attend school on Saturday mornings, do they? (In France, some schools are still opened on Saturday mornings instead of Wednesday mornings.)
Thanks a lot for your help.