A Shirebrook school says that it has been “overwhelmed” by students hoping to put their foreign language skills to good use after it announced plans to hold its first oversea trips following the coronavirus lockdown.

Shirebrook Academy said that it could have filled both its forthcoming trips to Paris and to Barcelona more than twice over, after hundreds of students came forward to put their names down.

The academy, which has been awarded a full International Schools Awards from the British Council, takes part in a number of overseas visits and vocational trips each year and made its own piece of history in 2019 when it organised its first-ever exchange visit to France.

However, it had to cancel all of its trips, alongside all of its other extra-curricular activities, last year, while sending nearly all of its students home to learn remotely.

Even though they are now back in school it has yet to hold another trip but, with lockdown easing, has announced that it wants to take students to Disneyland Paris in November and to Barcelona in April next year.

The school has held both trips regularly in the past, with students enjoying the rides and the French culture on the Paris trip and visiting landmarks such as the Nou Camp, the Sagrada Familia and Las Ramblas during their visits to Barcelona.

James Edwards, head of modern languages at the academy, said: “Our overseas trips have been hugely successful in the past and it was a huge shame when we had to cancel all of last year’s visits.

“We were very excited about the prospect of announcing them again but were unsure about what the take-up would be bearing in mind that there is a lot of uncertainty about foreign travel.

“However, there is a huge buzz of excitement and we could fill the Barcelona trip nearly three times over.

“It’s extremely heartening. Not only does it show how much students want to be able to use their French or Spanish, it’s a sign that they are really keen to start travelling again and get things back to normal after being confined to their homes and communities during lockdown.”

Shirebrook’s foreign exchange visit involved hosting a party of students from the private Bon Accueil school, based in Toulon, in March 2019, followed by a trip to Toulon to stay with French families and learn about life of the French Riviera two months later.

James said: “France has not had it easy, they’ve just entered their third lockdown and things have been tough for them, but staff over there are positive that we can arrange a trip next year so we thought ‘why not?’

“Few state schools hold exchange visits but all of the students who took part got a huge amount out of the experience in terms of the cultural education they received as well as improving their language skills and spending time getting to know someone from another country.

“We would like to get more students involved in the trip next time so now we are all hoping the lockdown measures ease in both countries so that we can welcome our friends from Toulon to Shirebrook again.”