Science Trip To Belgium

09 Nov 2022

It was all systems go for 63 third year students from Athboy Community School and 5 of their teachers; group leader Mr McHugh, Mr Fox, Miss Mahony, Miss McGrory and Year Head Mr Magner who travelled to Belgium and the Euro Space Centre over the Hallowe’en break. The group were based in Brussels but did the ‘Border Hoppin’ tour with Saffron travel taking in Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany over four action packed days. The group departed the school at 3a.m. on Thursday morning, October 27th for their flight to Zaventem. Upon landing they were taken to Breendonck Fort in Mechelen, a 120 year old military fort that was used as a Nazi concentration camp during World War 2. The group had a very moving guided tour outlining the grisly history of the fort and all that went on there before and after liberation. Afterwards it was on to the Technopolis Science Park for a few hours of interactive science experiments and games, based mainly on the laws of physics. The group had some time at the iconic Atomium in Heysel afterwards. At the end of a packed first day there was time for an evening visit to the beautiful city of Leuven before returning to their Brussels hotel. Day 2, the Friday, was a full day spent in Efteling Theme Park near Waalwijk in The Netherlands, country number two on the trip. There the students and teachers enjoyed some hair-raising roller-coasters and other attractions before an-all-you-can-eat Chinese Restaurant stop on the way back to Brussels in the evening. Day 3 saw country number three as the group headed to Germany, to Cologne, to visit the amazing Koln Cathedral and engage in some much needed retail therapy. Afterwards it was on to the Aqualand Waterpark in the city where the group enjoyed the pools and slides for a couple of hours before heading back to Belgium, to the city of Genk for bowling and dinner. The final day saw the visit to the Euro Space centre in Transinne near the Luxembourg border where the students got to enjoy the 5G space cinema experience, the G Force spinner, the planetarium and various other interactive space themed exhibitions and activities. That evening the group returned to Brussels for the flight home tired but happy. The students would like to thank all the teachers, particularly the group leader Mr McHugh who put so much time into organising the trip.