School Activity Courses France
Below are details of the different activity courses that we offer. Tailor make your school's programme by choosing the best from each product offered to suit your school's individual objectives of a visit to France.
French Experience
The objective of our French Experience course is to provide students with the opportunity of experiencing French culture from a beautiful 18th Century Château.
Despite our two countries only being separated by 26 miles of water we are different in many ways. Students will be able to distinguish from their visit to Le Château that it is not only the language that differentiates the two cultures: architecture; history; food; attitudes and also driving on the other side of the road are only some of the differences.
Our coach remains with your group for the duration of your stay to maximise your enjoyment whilst in France. We offer a wealth of interesting places to visit: Paris, a Chocolate Factory, a French Market, a variety of historical sites or even a theme park. The possibilities are endless and are detailed under places of interest. Included in the package is a range of evening entertainment which can include:- Château olympics, disco, quiz night, local visit to Rue, scavenger hunt, wide games, and team sports.
For schools who want to expand on their French Experience course, various modules can be added to the programme for a small supplement from our other products, i.e. outdoor pursuit sessions, French Language modules or a guided tour of the WWI Battlefields.
The essence of the course offered is to design the programme around the individual requirements of each school.
Party Leaders are encouraged to visit Le Château prior to the school visit to satisfy that all our systems such as Risk Assessment, Health & Safety, and Staff qualifications are all in order, but also to discuss a tailor-made programme with our Activities Manager.
| 5 Day Sample Programme - French Experience | |||||
| Time of Day | am | pm | Evening | ||
| Activity Session | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Monday | Travel to Le Château to arrive for evening meal | Château Olympics | |||
| Tuesday | Discovering Rue | Language Module* | Scavenger Hunt | ||
| Wednesday | Full Day trip to Paris, Disney or Parc Asterix | ||||
| Thursday | Grottes de Naours | Chocolate Factory | Bingo | ||
| Friday | Snail Farm | Zip Wire* | Depart for School | ||
*Optional extra
French Adventure
The French Adventure programme is one of our most popular courses offering tremendous value for money with a wide variety of activities for fun and adventure. The courses offered are available on a tailor-made basis and provide children with an opportunity to experience new exciting activities under the careful supervision of our instructors. French Adventure provides a super value course with an action packed day with over 30 activities to choose from, plus the opportunity to experience the French way of life. The aim is to develop an inner confidence whilst doing new exciting and challenging activities in a country with a different culture and language. Programmes are continually assessed and improved with the main feature being a pre-planned programme to help achieve course objectives for each School. All Party Leaders are invited to visit Le Château to assess at first hand the quality of our operation and the safety measures in place.
* Activities include...
* Canadian Canoeing
* Abseiling
* Rifle Shooting
* Climbing
* Archery
* Scavenger Hunt
* Survival Skills
* French Boules
* Orienteering
* Nature Walk
* Volleyball
* Blind Trail
* Quiz
* Zip Wire
* Fencing
* Kayaking
* Film Studies
* Team Games
* Château Olympics
* Raft Building
* Local Visit
* Assault Course
* Initiative Exercises
* Wide Games
* Evening Walk
* Camp Craft
| 5 Day Sample Programme - French Adventure | |||||
| Time of Day | am | pm | Evening | ||
| Activity Session | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Monday | Travel to Le Château to arrive for evening meal | Scavenger Hunt | |||
| Tuesday | Rifles | Fencing | Blind Trail | Abseiling | Quiz Night |
| Wednesday | Visit Historic Rue | Canoeing | Château Olympics | ||
| Thursday | Climbing | Archery | Local Visit | Evening Walk | |
| Friday | Survival | Orienteering | Depart for School after lunch | ||
French Language
The aims of our language course are to encourage pupils to speak and listen to the French language as often as possible while staying in an 18th Century Château. The courses are designed to build on the work pupils currently do within the school classroom and to develop an increased confidence in French, whilst also experiencing French culture. Our structured sessions will help to give each child an extra boost and a real appreciation of French and hopefully an increase in motivation when they return to the classroom in the UK.
pupils are accompanied on the language module by a language coordinator, whose purpose is to ensure that each child obtains the maximum benefit from the French session chosen. Each pupil will receive a diary to be used prior, during and after the course. Teachers can then decide how much they want to incorporate our modules into the course work at school. Party Leaders can choose 2 modules on a weekend course and 3 modules on a week course.
The Château language modules have been designed by teachers. They are mainly aimed at key stage 2 & 3 and pre-GCSE students with at least 1-2 year's experience of French language learning but can be adapted to suit various ability levels if required.
Please note the evening entertainment programme on our french language course is conducted in french wherever possible.
Choice of Language Modules
Rue Treasure Hunt
Teams will visit the historical village of Rue which is within easy walking distance of Le Château du Broutel. Each team is given a variety of clues, problems and destinations in French and by following the instructions, directions and by asking the locals are then able to answer the various puzzles.
Local Market Visit & Mayonnaise MakingOur French chef gives a demonstration of how to make mayonnaise, with explanations in French. The school teams then have the chance to make mayonnaise themselves under the watchful eye of our chef and language coordinator. The party then leaves for the market accompanied by the language coordinator where all the pupils will be encouraged to find out information about French market produce by asking stall-holders for this information.
Supermarket Comparison
Teams will visit a French supermarket and compare it to an English supermarket in terms of the prices of various items, the layout of the shop, the range of products on offer.
Interview
Pupils will go over questions with the language coordinator and following this visit a local town to ask passers-by about their lives, likes and dislikes, hobbies, etc.
Local Visit
A number of local visits will include demonstrations in French with pupils being asked to record key aspects of the visit. For example: Visit to the Goat Farm.
| 5 Day Sample Programme - French Language | |||||
| Time of Day | am | pm | Evening | ||
| Activity Session | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Monday | Travel to Le Château to arrive for evening meal | Château Olympics | |||
| Tuesday | Chocolate Factory or Goat Farm |
Interview Module | Scavenger Hunt | ||
| Wednesday | Local Market Module | Amiens Visit | Quiz Night | ||
| Thursday | Visit St Valery | Supermarket Comparison Module | Bingo | ||
| Friday | Fencing* | Zip Wire* | Depart for School after lunch | ||
*Optional extra
Guided WWI Battlefield Tours
It is not until you visit the cemeteries, trenches and memorials do you fully appreciate the true history of the First World War. As most families in the UK had relatives either killed or wounded, this surely makes the Battlefields Guided Tours a must for every School visiting Le Château.
Our expert Guides concentrate on the Battlefields of the Somme and Ypres, and will work in association with History Teachers to provide a tailor-made tour to maximise the pupils experience whilst in France.
Our Château is based in the Somme, where in 1916 sixty thousand British Soldiers, half of the attacking force, and every man a volunteer, were lost on the first day of the battle alone.
Further afield we travel to Ypres or 'Wipers' as it was known to the troops, which was a beautifully preserved medieval town in 1914, and remained in British hands but by 1918 was totally obliterated.
The few square miles to the east, the Ypres Salient, became a lunar landscape of craters and the village of Passchendaele, became a byword for horror. In 1917 the British Army inched forward for an agonising three miles and 35 died for every muddy metre gained.
On our guided tours to the Somme you will visit such famous sites as the Newfoundland Park, British and German trenches at Beaumont Hamel, the Thiepval Memorial to the missing and the enormous Lochnagar Crater.
At Ypres, now rebuilt to its original splendour, you will see the Tyne Cot British Cemetery (the largest in the world), Langemark German Cemetery, Hill 62/Sanctuary Wood, preserved British trenches and the Menin Gate Memorial to the missing.
Party Leaders can produce their own tailor-made programme to suit the objectives of the school trip. Mix and match the various options of the Guided Battlefields Tours, excursions and activities.
| 5 Day Sample Programme - Battlefield Tours | |||||
| Time of Day | am | pm | Evening | ||
| Activity Session | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Monday | Travel to Le Château to arrive for evening meal | Château Olympics | |||
| Tuesday | Full day itinerary to the Ypres Battlefields | Quiz Night | |||
| Wednesday | Full day trip to Paris, Parc Asterix or Disney | ||||
| Thursday | Full day itinerary to the Somme Battlefields | Evening Walk | |||
| Friday | Zip Wire* | Fencing* | Depart for School after lunch | ||
*Optional extra
Bargain Specials
We have recently developed a new discounted product. This will introduce le Château du Broutel to a wider selection of schools who previously would not be able to afford a trip to France, let alone stay in an 18th century Château.
To keep the cost as low as possible we are able to offer 2, 3 and 4 day stays at the Château between November and January. Prices start at £89 and is based on our French Experience product, with the option to incorporate a Christmas market or a guided tour of the WWI battlefields (especially popular in November).
However, to reduce the cost, we do not provide lunch and we only provide a limited evening entertainment programme: French Bingo, Quiz Night, Disco, Film Night and Karaoke Night. As you have full use of the coach we are pleased to organise a range of cultural visits (some are very inexpensive or even free).
| 3 Day Sample Programme - Bargain Specials | |||||
| Time of Day | am | pm | Evening | ||
| Activity Session | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Monday | Travel to Le Château to arrive for evening meal, visiting Nausicaa on route | French Bingo | |||
| Tuesday | Visit Amiens | Visit Christmas Market | Quiz Night | ||
| Wednesday | Goat Farm | Chocolate Factory | Travel Back to School | ||
French Experience
The objective of our French Experience course is to provide students with the opportunity of experiencing French culture from a beautiful 18th Century Château.
more about French Experience...
French Adventure
The French Adventure programme is one of our most popular courses, offering tremendous value for money with a wide variety of activities for fun and adventure.
more about French Adventure...
French Language
The aims of our language course are to encourage pupils to speak and listen to the French language as often as possible while staying in an 18th Century Château.
more about French Language...
Guided WWI Battlefield Tours
It is not until you visit the cemeteries, trenches and memorials do you fully appreciate the true history of the First World War.
more about Battlefield Tours...
Bargain Specials
This recently developed discounted product will introduce le Château du Broutel to a wider selection of schools who previously would not be able to afford a trip to France, let alone stay in an 18th century Château.
more about Bargain Specials...