Biddick School Sports College GCSE Paris Trip 2012 Thurs 22nd March- Sunday 25 th March

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1 Biddick School Sports College GCSE Paris Trip 2012 Thurs 22nd March- Sunday 25 th March This booklet is aimed at answering any questions that you may have concerning the trip to France. If you have any queries or concerns regarding the trip, please do not hesitate to contact me at the school. Laura Semple, The booklet will cover the following areas: Details of the trip Money: payments for the trip and spending money Clothing and other essentials The itinerary Other details Contact details Please keep it in a safe place to refer to when you need.

2 In January, we asked you to make sure your child has an EHIC card from the Post Office and a valid passport for March 2012: We would like you to update your child s medical forms and contact details as these details may have changed since we received the original forms from you. We will also need to know if your child has any dietary requirements so that we can ensure that we inform the hotel and the restaurants which we will be eating in. GCSE Paris Trip 2012 Cost The cost of the trip is 430. This includes half-board accommodation (breakfast in the hotel) and dinner in Parisian restaurants on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening, metro tickets, train tickets to London and back, Eurostar tickets, insurance, boat trip, Eiffel Tower tickets, entrance to the Centre Pompidou and lunch money for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Pupils will need to bring food with them for the journey on Thursday morning as we will be travelling to London King s Cross in the morning and they will need lunch before we go (but they won t have enough time to buy it when we get to Kings Cross), and they should bring some sterling for food on the return journey on Sunday if they want it. Dates Thursday 22nd March- Sunday 25 th March 2012 Outbound You drop your children off at Newcastle Central Station on Thursday 22nd March at 8.45am. We will take the train arriving in London King s Cross at and then check in for the Eurostar which leaves at 14H00. We arrive at 17H17 local time in Gare du Nord, Paris. We will then get on a coach to the Hôtel Alhambra and arrive around 18H00. Inbound We take the coach at to the Gare du Nord and check in, the train leaves at 14H13. We arrive in London St. Pancras at 15H30 and will get the train from London Kings Cross at 16H30 returning to Newcastle Central Station at 19H 40pm. The pick up point for you to meet your child will be the front entrance inside the station. Please remember, the clocks go forward an hour on Sunday 25 th March! Note: Some of the times are provisional. Students will have the opportunity to contact parents and let them know a more accurate time of arrival.

3 Accommodation and Food We will be staying for the 3 nights in the Hôtel Alhambra, 13 Rue de Malte, in the centre of Paris. It is a two star basic but very pleasant hotel. Pupils will have ensuite showers and sinks in their rooms, and they will be sharing rooms with either 1 or 2 other pupils, obviously boys and girls will be in separate rooms. All pupils will be in neighbouring rooms to each other. In the morning, they will have a typical French breakfast with a choice of drinks: coffee, tea, hot chocolate, fruit juice, and cereal, baguette and croissants with butter and jam. The hotel should provide small white towels, so we suggest that pupils should not bring a white towel as they may get mixed up with the hotel property. There are no hairdryers in the rooms, pupils may bring hairdryers and straighteners but they will need to bring a travel plug so that they can use the sockets in the wall! We have used this hotel in previous Paris trips, and we have always been very happy with it. The staff are helpful and polite and the hotel is extremely central. It is situated beside a Metro stop, Oberkampf, but is also easy to walk from the hotel into the centre of Paris. On Thursday evening, we will have a 3 course meal in a restaurant, La Brasserie au Métro on the same street as the hotel, on Friday evening we will be eating a 3 course meal in Chez Gigi in the Montmartre area and on Saturday evening, we will be eating in a restaurant near the Arc de Triomphe Paris. On previous school trips we have eaten in these restaurants and we have always been happy with them. Pupils need to bring sterling for food on Thursday, or bring a packed lunch, and sterling in case they want to buy food on the return train from London to Newcastle on Sunday. They will each be given 10 euros for lunch on 3 days, Fri, Sat and they get a packed lunch on Sunday. If you think they need more money than this for food during the day, then that is fine if you want to give them some extra cash.

4 a hairdryer/ Straighteners if wanted Clothing and Other Essentials Essential layers of clothes (peel off when gets quite warm in day, add on in the evening when it s cold!) t- shirts, cardigans, jeans/jumper (was warm during day last year, but very cold in evening and rained lots on the last day!) Sturdy flat shoes (as we will be doing a lot of walking!!!) with a travel plug! a small bag which you can wear across your shoulders when we are in Paris (rucksacks may not be a good idea in case of pick-pocketing) French dictionary pen/pencil We ask that pupils can bring a mobile phone with credit and a charger( with travel plug) if they can. Waterproof coat Nightwear towel (not white!) underwear toiletries {soap and toothpaste are not provided} Passport and Ehic A travel plug. any medication required (please inform us) Packed lunch on Thursday {although we do not recommend that you bring anything of too much value as things are often lost!} Optional: MP3 player Books Camera (with film) Sterling for food on evening train on Sunday spending money at your discretion. purse/wallet

5 Luggage As we are travelling by train to London, and then the Eurostar train to Paris and back, pupils will be responsible for looking after their own luggage. We will all be travelling on the same carriage in all trains that we take, so we can all keep an eye on the luggage. However, pupils will need to be able to carry their own luggage, so it should not be too heavy! We will all have our own bags to carry so won t be able to help if someone brings too much! I advise pupils to leave space in their back in case they plan to buy presents to take back. Please put a label on your bag with your name and with the school address on it and the hotel address which is: Hotel Alhambra, 13 Rue de Malte, 75011, Paris, La France. It is also a good idea to have a small piece of hand luggage to keep Passport, Ehic, money and anything very important that you will want to keep on you when we are travelling. French We will be encouraging all students to speak French as much as possible when away. Before we leave, we will introduce the vocabulary and phrases that will be useful and pupils will be provided with a booklet of useful words and phrases to support them. No one should have any excuse not to speak French!!! Passport, EHIC Card, and Spending Money You will need to bring their valid passport, EHIC Card and spending money with you. You will be responsible for your passport, EHIC card and money for the whole trip! We will advise you to leave your passport and EHIC in your baggage in the hotel when we are out during the day so that there is no danger of you losing it when we are out. We will leave it up to you to decide how much spending money you would like to take with you.

6 Behaviour We don t expect to have any problems with behaviour, but pupils are reminded that when we are in the hotel, they need to respect the other visitors and not make noise at night and they should not leave their rooms once we go to bed. Cigarettes and alcohol are strictly forbidden and we will contact home immediately if anyone is caught with them and it may jeopardise opportunities to go on other school trips in Biddick, or in college. GCSE Paris trip March 2011 Thursday 22 nd March: am: Meet at school at Newcastle Central Station at 8.45 am. We will take the train arriving in London King s Cross at and then check in for the Eurostar which leaves at 14H00. We arrive at 17H17 local time in Gare du Nord, Paris. We will then get on a coach to the Hôtel Alhambra and arrive around 18H00. Unpack luggage Eat in local restaurant Brasserie au Metro. Return to hotel. Friday 23rd March :Am : 09:00 Depart After Breakfast for Notre Dame by metro or on foot. Pm: visit Latin Quarter and buy lunch here. Leave here by metro (St Michel RER C DIRECTION Versailles/ St Quentin4 stops to Champ de Mars) 2pm take Bateaux Parisiens, trip down Seine to view the main tourist sights of Paris. 3.30pm Metro to Montmartre area and explore Free time for shopping in this area. Evening: Have a meal in Chez Gigi in Montmartre around 18H. Back to hotel after.

7 Saturday 24 th March: Am: Breakfast at hotel Leave at 8.00am to go to Eiffel Tower at Midday: Champs Elysées to shop and sightsee! Visit Centre Pompidou around 17H00 Visit Arc de Triomphe around 18H.30 Eat dinner in Buffet Monte Carlo around 19H.30 Pack most of luggage night before, to save time in the morning. Sunday: 25 th March Am: Breakfast in hotel. Pack bags and tidy rooms. Pick up packed lunch delivery. Leave baggage in storage at the hotel an hour and a half. Metro to Pere la Chaise Cemetary, leave hotel at 9 Get back to hotel for 11.30, get bags, get on coach at 12 pm And go to Gare du Nord. Book into Eurostar at (leaves at 14.13) In London by 15H30, take train to Newcastle at 16H30, Parents meet children at 19H41 in Newcastle Central Station. The pickup point for you to meet your child will be the front entrance inside the station at 19H41. Please remember, the clocks go forward an hour on Sunday 25 th March!

8 Contact Details Apart from myself, Mrs McLeman, Mr Carline, and Mr Shell are leading the trip and will have school mobiles on which you can contact us at any time. Pupils will also have these numbers to contact teachers in case of emergency In the case of emergency, you can also contact: Mr Stone (to school): / Mr Thornton: We will ask all pupils for their mobile phone numbers. Credit on phones will be charged when pupils receive calls from UK or calls from each other and us in France which is why it is important that they have credit on their phones. Sometimes, UK mobiles will not work in France, but there should be enough ways to contact us to ensure the safety of everyone. Pupils will also never be allowed to be in groups of less than 3 so there will always be a way of contacting them. We will also have regular meeting points and head counts. Pupils will also be given a card with our contact details, the hotel details and a Metro map in case of emergency. They will also have a little card of French phrases.

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