In Our Lady of Mercy College we have a long tradition of European Cultural tours. These tours usually take place in Transition Year and or 5th year. Previous destinations have included Lake Garda & Venice, London, Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Barcelona, Krakow or volunteering in Lourdes with the Carmelite Order.
These school tours assist in our aim of providing a holistic education for our students. Tours are organised with the aim of exposing our students to experiences that will help them grow socially, academically, morally, physically, personally, culturally and equip them with skills for real life. School tours allow students’ learning to extend beyond the classroom and deepen and reinforce the curriculum and skills promoted in the classroom.
We also have language tours, giving students who study a foreign language to experience the culture of their chosen language and practice in real life their language skills. Students who study German had the opportunity to visit Munich Germany and Salzburg Austria in November 2024. Our students who study French will visit, Nice and Cannes, France and Monaco in April 2025.
In April 2023 48 TY and 5h year students accompanied by 5 teachers spent 4 days in the North of Italy. The tour was aimed at allowing the students to explore Italian Culture and heritage, through visit historical landmarks and touring 3 different towns/cities. Day one involved the students visiting Lake Garda town Sirmione where they took a boat tour around the lake before making their own pizza in an authentic pizzeria. The 2nd day the students travelled into Venice on a private water taxi before spending a full day exploring the city. In Venice they took a guided tour of the city and a murano glass factory. Day 3 was one filled with adrenaline as they visited Gardaland amusement park. The final day of the tour was spent in the lovely city of Verona where they took a tour of the Verona Arena before exploring the city.
In November 2024 19 of our students from 2nd-6th year who study German accompanied by 3 teachers headed off for 3 days to visit Munich and Salzburg. The tour involved a walking tour of Munich before the students explored the Christmas markets of Munich, putting their German skills into practice. The next day started with a German class in a local language school before they hopped on a bus to take them to the Saltmines in Salzburg and Salzburg city. On the final day the group paid a visit to the Europe’s largest slide world. The group enjoyed many indoor waterslides, wave pool and both indoor and outdoor thermal areas.
