Arranging a Christmas school trip for the kids in my class every year is easier said than done. How are you supposed to please a group of 14 year olds, all with different tastes? Last year we hired out a cinema screen, only for half of them to complain they hated the film, whilst loads of others talked all the way through. They don’t want to sit still for two hours- they want to do something action packed.
Me and the other teachers in my department started brainstorming different ideas to keep them entertained as part of the end of term treat. The only problem was all the health and safety laws the school has- anything a 14 year old loves was definitely not deemed safe to take part in. But then I had a thought: what about karting? There was a large indoor circuit just a short drive away from our school, which I know you could book privately as some of the sixth formers had done it not long ago. I rushed straight to find them, to see how they managed to book it out.
They told me that when they went karting, they booked online with Karting Nation, so when my lunch break arrived, I took some time out of marking homework to take a look. It looked perfect, as it delivered the action all the kids would want, plus the head teacher would have no problem with this being the destination as there was no risk of any injury when you raced there. But first, I needed to check with the kids to make sure I was making the right move. I was relieved to hear that they definitely wanted to go- I’ve never seen them act so excited before!
I was expecting booking for the whole class to go would take forever. Luckily, it was all booked within the space of a few minutes; all the kids who weren’t in my group were instantly jealous that they weren’t going to part of the fun! When the final week of term came around, you could tell all the kids in the class couldn’t wait any longer- and when we finally got onto the track, the day definitely didn’t disappoint!
We’d booked the circuit out for an entire afternoon and in that time, everybody got to have more than just a few laps behind the wheel. We had our own mini Grand Prix, to determine who was the best driver in the class- after spending the last few months trying to get them motivated to do work, all it took to get them interested was to turn it into a competition to see who was the best! There were lots of mini Lewis Hamiltons on the track that day and I know they’ll be desperate to return for another fast and furious thrill ride. Even I’m surprised by how well they managed to zoom around all the tight corners and bends.
For the next end of term treat, I know that other form tutors are going to book with Karting Nation, as it is all my pupils have been talking about since we’ve left! I can’t recommend the experience highly enough.
