PUPILS from a Wrexham secondary school had a great half-term adventure on the ski slopes of Andorra.

Staff from Darland High School in Rossett took 50 pupils to the Grandvalira resort for a fun-packed sporting break.

Pupils benefitted from professional instruction and cultural visits during their trip to the largest ski resort in the Pyrenees.

On return to the UK, staff were delighted to receive a thank you card from Jet2 staff. Simon Coyne, an experienced trip leader, and head of year at Darland School, celebrates the many positives of taking children abroad.

The Jet2 staffs thoughtful note for Darland students.

The Jet2 staff's thoughtful note for Darland students.

He said: "Pupils develop a vast array of skills whilst visiting other countries. They experience other cultures and landscapes, the mountains and valleys of the Pyrenees are breath-taking, especially at this time of year.

"We visited Andorra la Vella, Andorra's capital since 1278 and its largest city, for pupils to embrace the culture on offer.

"For many of these children, this is the first time they have been abroad without their families. They develop skills of resilience when taking care of their belongings and being responsible for their own time keeping.

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"Usually on holidays they have a parent who will take care of these things, going with a school party is a great stepping stone to travelling on their own when they are older, all were fantastic, we are so proud of them.

"Skiing is a tiring sport; the children were so amazingly resilient we had smiles all day, and all had a wonderful time. The days on the slopes were long, they all slept very well, including the staff."

Jonathon Hayes, head of ICT and computing added: "A number of our pupils are extremely talented sports people, Lily and David demonstrated outstanding technique on the slopes and were brimming with skiing confidence.

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"Whilst Mr Coyne added Jemima, Lucia and Will and the other beginners worked tirelessly to develop their skills. They struggled at the start and came through to ski really well for their first week on the snow."

Mr Coyne said: "It was also the first time for some of our pupils to fly but again, they embraced the experience as an adventure."

Headteacher Joanne Lee also advocates school trips and visits as an essential part of the wider curriculum.

She said: "We have a responsibility to provide all our pupils with a wide range of extracurricular experiences. We are fortunate enough to be able to provide a variety of experiences from local trips to those further afield.

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"In the current economic climate, we endeavour to keep the cost of these trips down. We are exceptionally grateful to the five staff who gave up their half-term break and take time away from their families to benefit our pupils.

"This ensures we don't have to find the cost of cover staff, and there is little interruption to the teaching timetable. Schools are going to have to be creative if we are going to continue to offer a rich curriculum in an increasingly tight financial climate."

Mr Coyne was delighted when, on landing, he was approached by flight cabin crew. They handed him a thank you card adding pupils had been "superb" and "a pleasure to work with".

He added: "We are very proud of our pupils; they had a wonderful time and have made fantastic memories. Our team of staff have been brilliant in supporting our pupils, and it is 'extra icing on the cake' when the manners and exemplary behaviour of our pupils is also recognised by others. It was a very kind gesture by the flight crew."