Blog by Mr B Mills, Housemaster of Ingrams

In July and August 47 pupils travelled to South Africa for a sports tour across the Western Cape and Gauteng regions. We took two girls hokey squads and one boys football side, each playing five matches as well as taking on a wide range of cultural, leisure and athletic excursions too.

On the pitch all pupils did superbly well leading to the sides securing 11 wins out of the 15 games played. Importantly though the matches were all competitive and we really enjoyed being so well looked after by the five different schools we played against. The time spent socialising with our hosts after each set of fixtures was certainly a highlight.

Away from the sport the group especially enjoyed embracing the amazing opportunities South Africa offers. From a surf lesson at Muizenberg to zip lining in the mountains above Cape Town the tourists challenged themselves to develop new skills and test their courage. All over the country we enjoyed spectacular wildlife from penguins and whales to lions and hippos to name just a few. On the very first day in the country our party visited the township of Kayamandi, just outside Stellenbosch and were treated to some incredible immersive tours from the local guides to get a real flavour of life in the townshipo and some history of the country.

A further highlight for many was the day visit to the incredible Inspire Children & Youth charity in Malmesbury. This is an organisation we have begun to develop a relationship with across the last two school tours to South Africa and we are looking forward to continuing to work with the incredible owner Ingrid and her team in the future. During our visit we were able to support with some jobs on the farm where Inspire are based but even more importantly have some brilliant interactions with the children who they support and all had an amazing experience playing games and leading activities with them.

Overall an incredible two weeks was had by the tour party and we \re so grateful for all the amazing people we met along the way, whether they be host schools, tour guides, activity leaders or all the others whom we interacted with that helped make our stay in South Africa so memorable.