Our Year 6 Football Tour embarked from a sunny Manchester airport on the first Saturday of the Easter holidays, full of excitement.

On our arrival in an unseasonably rainy and cold Madrid, we soon settled into training and playing football, as it felt just like home!

On Sunday, we made the first of our three visits to Real Madrid's Valdebebas training ground for a training session before returning to the hotel to get ready for the 'big match'. The sights and sounds of a football crowd approaching 90,000 people in the centre of one of the major cities in Europe were incredible. Once inside the newly renovated Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, we ascended six levels by escalator and got our first view of the pitch, and the crowd. It was truly a breathtaking sight, and one that will live long in the memories of our touring party.

On Monday and Tuesday each team played two fixtures against local Spanish opposition. All four of our teams thoroughly enjoyed representing our School and demonstrated great sportsmanship and determination in equal measure.

This was interspersed with further training sessions at Valdebebas, a tour of the Bernabeu (including the all-important trip to the club shop!), and a visit to a park in the centre of Madrid. Fortunately, the sun even made an appearance for us too!

Overall, the trip was a huge success, and our touring party were great company and a pleasure to travel with.

Special thanks go to the team of staff who accompanied the trip: Miss Harrison (Teacher of Physical Education), Mrs Howard (Primary Principal), Mr Norris (Graduate Sports Intern) and Mrs Procter (Primary PE Coordinator).

Click here to view a few memories from the tour.

Thank you to Mr Maguire (Head of Primary Enrichment and Creatives), Trip Leader, for these words.