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Report name	British School of Paris Activity week - Orpierre
Date submitted	Jun-09

What a week!

Early Saturday evening the coach arrived from Paris and the population of the beautiful medieval village of Orpierre was increased from about 300 to 360 for the week.

First thing first and all 46, 12 and 13 year olds were settled into seven different gites around the village. The first meeting was held at 9.30 in the Salle Polyvalante (village hall) and then a tour to the 5 a side pitch in the dark, and then back to their gites ready for the activities tomorrow!

On Sunday morning we started on the activities, all of these went down a treat. Mountain walking with superb views towards Devoluy one way and the Barronie hills the other; climbing and gorge walking locally; rafting in the Durance gorge and Via Ferrata a short distance away from the village.

These activities then continued for five days in better and better weather, with the more normal worry being sun burn! All of the group settled into gite life and explored the wonderful covered alleys and small medieval squares. The final day was spent with a visit to Sisteron, with the option of a tour of the magnificent Citadel. This was plagued for a time by torrential rain, though this did nothing to dampen the spirits of the group.
The rest of the day had been planned so each of the five activity groups could give their thoughts for the week to the rest of the gathered pupils, staff and instructors.
We had managed to organise a ‘surprise’ for their final evening; rather than sitting in the dinning room for their evening meal, the village mayor had agreed we could lay the tables in the squares and have a buffet outdoors. This allowed the staff to clear all the furniture from the dinning room, and we set up a disco. A short shower had us all scurrying with food indoors for a short time, but the evening was a fantastic success!

A thanks must go to all the BSP staff for managing this new and exciting format, using gites within a medieval village; but most of all to all the pupils, who the village are looking forward to welcoming back next year!