SIX students from Droitwich Spa High School and Sixth Form Centre are busy packing their bags for a trip to New Zealand.

The six, all Year 12 students, will be accompanied by geography teacher Miss Jenny Ruddick who is the ideal guide having spent some of her formative years living in the country.

Miss Ruddick said: “I am really looking forward to taking the students. It will be a great adventure for them and something of a homecoming for me. There are a lot of activities planned for the students but I am also looking forward to taking them exploring in some of the places I knew as a child fifteen years ago.”

The students and Miss Ruddick will be visiting Howick College in Auckland on New Zealand’s North Island. The school has played host to exchanges with Droitwich in the past but with recent changes to funding arrangements it is possible that this visit will be a one way affair.

Miss Ruddick added: “The Sports Council used to part fund this exchange but that is no longer the case so the six students have had to fund the trip entirely themselves. This does make it harder for two way events to take place.”

While in New Zealand the six students, Julia Sammons, Parissa Bagheri, Carl Thompson, Mike Wright, Josh Hale and Dan Harrison will take part in a mini Olympics, leadership workshops, cultural and tourist visits.

The party from the Briar Mill school leaves on July 11 and returns on August 4.