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Kingswood Secondary Academy

Ofsted Good

Ski Trip - USA

During the recent holiday a group of 24 students, led by Hayley Copas, visited New Hampshire on the school’s annual Ski Trip.  This was the first time we had taken the trip out of Europe to the USA.

David Harley who accompanied the students writes: ‘The flight from Heathrow, Terminal 5, was a breeze with the six hour flight with British Airways to New York’s JFK airport being suprisingly stress free.  Once state side we transferred by coach to Lincoln, New Hampshire, where we stayed at The Beacon Restore.

Despite the long flight and transfer we were all up at 5am suffering with Jet Lag! Breakfast was at 6am which helped! We had to have an early start on the first day so we could be fitted for our skis.

After breakfast we got onto a typical American yellow school bus and travelled to the Cannon Mountain ski resort, a 15 minute journey along the highway.

What a difference skiing in America is compared to Europe!  We almost had the resort to ourselves, never having to queue for too long, if at all. The instructors were very friendly and without the language barrier in Europe it was much easier for the students to understand the instructors and make good progress in their skiing lessons. Bob, one of the instructors, was even happy to give Miss Craig some extra skiing tips during lunch to help her improve.

We spent 2 days at Cannon Mountain and spent the rest of the week at Loon Ski resort. Loon is a bigger resort than Cannon but the staff were just as friendly, in fact most people we met were, and they all said "We love your accent"!

Following 5 great days of skiing we travelled back to New York where we had a day and a half to see the sights and do a bit of shopping.  We had a meal at Planet Hollywood and shopped in Macy’s.  We also took a moving visit to the Ground Zero Visitor Memorial Center.

All our students were complimented on their attitude and behaviour from the hotel staff, ski instructors and our Equity rep, Noel.  We’re all looking forward to returning to the States next year.  From all of us who went we’d like to thank Mrs Copas for organising such an excellent trip.’

Students on the trip wrote:

‘The best part of the flight was flying over New York City at night when it was all lit up!’

‘The skiing was amazing. It was a fantastic experience for everyone’

‘On the last day we visited Ground Zero which was very sad , but really interesting.’

‘Mrs. Copas has been a real star.  She ensured we were all well equipped for each day and was always there to help us and make our holiday as enjoyable as possible.  We would like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs Copas for the Ski Trip that she organises every year and look forward to hearing about future Skiing adventures in years to come!’

To view the photo gallery of this trip, click here.

  • Ofsted
  • NOS
  • NOS 2
  • Career Mark
  • DofE
  • London Institute