21 March 2005

SKIING COURSE IN ITALY A GREAT SUCCESS

Pupils returned from the annual skiing course to Pila in Italy with one pupil receiving an Interski Snowsport School Scholarship.

FROM the 12th - 20th March pupils took part in a skiing course in Pila, located in the Aosta Valley Region of Italy.

Everything ran smoothly and successfully from the beginning to the end of the course.

The 44 students were extremely well behaved, and the hotel course coordinator said that Boldon School was the best group this season. All of the ski instrictors commented on the positive, enthusiastic approach of the students and their excellent progress.

The "skiers" were all assessed at the end of the week and all pupils gained very creditable results. There were 30 first time skiers in the group and they all made an excellent start. The assessment scale is from a 1* to a 5* and 6* is considered to be at instructor level.

• 12 of our students achieved a 2* with merit
• 11 achieved 2* with distinction
• 4 achieved 3*
• 3 achieved 3* with distinstion
• 3 achieved a 4* with merit
• 2 achieved a 4* with distinction
• Sarah Lamb achieved a 5*
• Gary Thompson was awarded a 5* with merit

After a 2 hour selection test, Gary Thompson was highly recommended by his assessor for selection for an Interski Snowsport School Scholarship. 10 students in Britain are awarded a scholarship each year and this involves free training to qualify as a ski instructor. There are only 3 weeks of the skiing season left and Gary was considered to be the strongest candidate to date this season in Pila. Gary was also awarded 10/10 for skiing in GCSE PE.

In the evenings the pupils thoroughly enjoyed the disco, the swimming party, the bowling, the games room with the dance machine, the snooker, the pizza evening, the quiz and the presentation evening; as in previous years, the shopping in the town of Aosta and the Nike factory shop was very pleasurable.

The sun shone all week and the skiing conditions were good. Everyone had a very enjoyable course.