Sandra Ashenford reflects on the ups and downs of her week

DAUGHTER number four’s school had arranged an outing to the Harry Potter film studios near London last week.

The visit had been planned right from the start of term and my daughter, a big Harry Potter fan, had been looking forward to it.

The trip was linked to the Year 7 theme of resilience, the boy wizard of book and film fame having, of course, to demonstrate his ability to keep going in the face of a considerable number of trials and tribulations.

However, the Year 7s also had to show some resilience of their own, in the aftermath of the events in Paris just a few days before.

Although my daughter rarely watches the news (she finds it too depressing), no-one could escape seeing the images.

Daughter number four became quite anxious about travelling to the capital in case terrorists chose that as their next target.

We did our best to reassure her, although I heard on the school grapevine that some parents were not prepared to let their children go to London and pulled them out of the trip.

But although my daughter went to bed the evening before the outing feeling fearful, on the morning itself more pressing concerns were foremost in her mind, who would she sit next to and would she make it to London without being travel sick? Fortunately she was fine, although she found some of her travelling companions rather annoying in their chosen methods of passing the time on the long journey.

Who knew that making rude noises with their arms could provide three whole hours of entertainment for some 11-year-old boys?

At least it took her mind off terrorists.

The day itself went extremely well, and the children had a brilliant time.

My daughter came home with a toy owl and lots of wonderful memories, extracting a promise that we could return as a family in the new year so we can all see what a great place it is.

In the end, the scariest part of the day was the storm that blew up as the children were returning home in double-decker coaches down the motorway.