LIVERPOOL PRIMARY SCHOOLS SKI COURSE

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1 LIVERPOOL PRIMARY SCHOOLS SKI COURSE ALPE D HUEZ, 2014 INFORMATION FOR PARENTS

2 BACKGROUND INFORMATION The Liverpool Primary Ski Association was created in The first organisers of ski courses for primary pupils were officers of the Liverpool Education Authority. Since 1990 the courses have been led by qualified Liverpool headteachers. The present course leaders are Peter Price, former headteacher of St Christopher s Catholic Primary School in Speke, and Tony McKee, former headteacher of Rudston Junior School in Childwall. The ski course continues to be run under the auspices of the Liverpool Authority and receives grant funding through the Liverpool Schools Sports Federation. Great credit must go to the early organisers for the high standard of Health and Safety that was operational from the very first trip and praise should also be given for the excellent value for money that has been negotiated from that time onwards. Across the years ski courses have been held in Bulgaria, Austria, France and Italy. The association seeks to offer the exciting sport of alpine skiing to as many children as possible. Those children are drawn from the many different communities of the city. What has also been maintained throughout is the tremendous ski progression that is always demonstrated on each trip as young primary children can more easily learn the skills of skiing which can be quite demanding for those who take up the sport at a later age. It has not been unheard of for some of our young skiers to go skiing in each of the four years of their junior school life and a great many have continued the sport through their secondary school years and have re-joined the group as student helpers. In one case the circle was completed when one of our young primary school skiers became a teacher in Liverpool and brought children onto the trip from her own school. The Association has grown greatly in size since its inception. A party of 212 visited Prato Nevoso in Italy in 2010 and was made up of children from ten Primary schools. The party size to the course s present venue of Alpe D Huez, in France, was 216 in In 2013 we organised two separate trips to Alpe D Huez made up of 66 and 156 persons. The children enjoy four hours of tuition each day from qualified ski instructors. All children receive graded assessments of their skiing progress and medals for successfully completing the course. Of an evening the children enjoy a range of après-ski activities which include quiz, a games night and a disco. Pupil teacher ratios are very favourable. For example the trip held between 19 th and 26 th January in 2013 had a ratio of 5 pupils to every qualified teacher. A backup team of professionals supports the schools own staff. This team presently includes five retired headteachers. A qualified paediatric nurse accompanies each trip. All adults attending the course have been the subject of an enhanced CRB check. The course has developed a detailed child protection policy which has been approved by the Liverpool Local Authority. The LA s own PE inspector presently attends the course.

3 Each of the school s attending the course is asked to ensure that one of its staff members has attended the Local Authority s Ski Organisers course. Four of the adults attending the course hold the Alpine Ski Leaders qualification. One of these adults is also a qualified ski instructor in his own right. Ahead of each course Association representatives conduct a full Risk assessment of the hotel and resort to be used. Copies of the RA are provided to the LA Residential Visits Coordinator and to the Governing Bodies of the participating schools. It is difficult to calculate precisely how many schools and how many children have benefited from these trips but the number of children who have become accomplished skiers will certainly go into the thousands. The principle aim of the LPSA of giving Liverpool primary children, who might never otherwise get the opportunity to experience the sport of skiing in a totally different cultural environment than their own, has certainly been well and truly achieved on an annual basis. The children from Liverpool always display behaviour of the highest standards and have continuously proved themselves to be outstanding ambassadors for our city. This is often commented on by adults who see the children on their journey to the ski course and by people they meet in resort. For example officers conducting security checks at Manchester Airport during this year s trip said to one of the party leaders that the Liverpool group was the best behaved school group they had seen. On a past trip to France an adult staying in the same hotel as the Liverpool group wrote to the Liverpool Director of Education complimenting the children on their wonderful behaviour. For the winter of 2014 the association has negotiated a very favourable contract with the Skibound company. The company provides ABTA bonding and full insurance policies. Schools which are involved in 2013 were: St Christopher s Catholic Primary School St Paul s Catholic Junior School St Anne s (Stanley) CE Primary School St Sebastian s Catholic Primary School St Cuthbert s Catholic Primary School St Paschal Baylon Catholic Primary School St Bartholomew s Catholic Primary School St Nicholas Catholic Primary School Emmaus Primary School Rudston Primary School St Cecilia s Catholic Junior School St Vincent s Catholic Primary School

4 INFORMATION ABOUT ALPE D HUEZ Alpe D Huez has 240 kilometres of piste and 85 lifts The highest point in the ski resort is 3330 metres The ski resort of Alpe D Huez was founded in 1936 The resort is situated in the Grande Rousses area of the French Alps. The resort is set in a sunny bowl and its nickname is the isle au soleil which means the sunny island. Alpe D Huez has among the best range of Nursery slopes in Europe, as well as having Europe s longest black run, which is 16 kilometres in length. The Romans mined for silver in the region. This mining ended in the 14 th century. Local legend states that the ruins of the silver mines are guarded by fairies who will cut the head off any traveller entering the mines. The Association will be once again be using the Hotel Vallee Blanche in Alpe D Huez has a number of linked villages, including one called the village of OZ! In the summer the roads up to Alpe D Huez are used for the famous Tour De France bike race.

5 A TYPICAL DAY IN RESORT 8.00 am Get up, get a shower, wash and clean your teeth. Get dressed and ready for breakfast. Cover your face and chin with suncream so it has time to be absorbed before your skiing am Down to breakfast. The breakfast is a continental breakfast (cereals, breads, ham, cheese sadly no bacon butties!) Your group teacher will then take you to the hotel s ski storage area allocated for your group so that you can collect your skis am: Leave the hotel promptly to go to the Bucket lift. Receive your lift pass from the teacher who is your group leader am Meet your instructor, just near the ski slopes. Morning lessons begin. Work hard and do what the instructor tells you pm Your first lesson finishes. Give your group teacher your ski pass at the bottom of the Bucket lifts. Return to our hotel with the group pm Lunch is served. Lunch will usually be a simple, filling dish. Then, reapply your suncream and lipsalve pm. Leave the hotel, having done your 7 point check and then return to the slopes with your group and group teacher. Receive your lift pass from your group teacher pm: Afternoon lessons begin promptly 5.00 p.m. Afternoon lessons finish. Thank your instructor and return with the group to the hotel p.m. Free time in your room. Relax, do your diary, there s a prize for the best! There s also a prize for the best room, so keep it tidied! Then you can play small games or chat about what exciting things have happened on the slopes that day. On some days your teachers will take you to the hotel bar or local supermarket to spend that day s pocket money p.m. Some days we will have school group meetings we will meet to tell each other how things are going and what fun we are having. The teachers will go over some of the skiing techniques to make sure you have grasped them pm Dinner is served. Dinner will be a two course meal 8.00 p.m. Evening entertainment in two groups see timetable below. 9.00p.m. BED and SLEEP! ZZZZZZZZZ.

6 AFTER-SKIING ACTIVITIES DAY Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday EVENING ACTIVITY Ski fit. Unpack Quiz Sweets Bingo Town trail Film night Disco in hotel Presentation of Awards

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