Pupils from the Island Free School visited the lakeside city of Geneva for an action-packed few days for Activity Week.

Day one was travelling followed by a bit of a paddle and splash in Lake Geneva.

Day two saw both the fantastic sites of the botanical gardens, many wonderful plants from around the world, and the main event of the trip. Pupils were taken to CERN, the largest particle research laboratory in the world. Pupils were treated to a lecture by a CERN research physicist talking through the ins and out of the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) a 30km particle accelerator, smashing subatomic particles together at close to the speed of light to try and understand the origins of matter and the universe. The pupils got to visit the control centres for two detectors used in the LHC, one on the ISS (international space station) and the other used on the ground in France.

Day three saw the pupils travel by boat across the lake to visit the old town of Geneva and the Natural History Museum. In the afternoon they went to visit the History of Science Museum. The evening was spent walking along the banks of Lac Leman with a picnic in the park.

The final day saw pupils travel by tram to the animal park to see various birds and wildlife. All the pupils represented the school fantastically and several members of the public commented on their attitude and behaviour whilst we were there.