We're always grateful for the feedback we receive. Cactus is always looking for ways to do things better, so if you have feedback to leave, about a course you've undertaken, or even about this website, please feel free to contact us. Thank you.

SCHOOL FEEDBACK

Cordoba, February 2010 - Putney High School - Teacher Feedback
Seville, March 2009 - Wycombe Abbey - Teacher Feedback
Seville, March 2009 - Wycombe Abbey - Student Feedback
Florence, 2008 - Levenshulme High School - Teacher Feedback
Florence, 2008 - Levenshulme High School - Student Feedback
Malaga, June 2008 - Tiffin Girls School - Student Feedback
Barcelona, Feb 2008 - Brecon High School - Teacher Feedback
Barcelona, Feb 2008 - Brecon High School - Student Feedback
Barcelona, Feb 2008 - Brecon High School - Student Feedback
Antibes, Sept 2007 - International School of London - Teacher Feedback
Malaga, Sept 2007 - Glyn Technical School - Teacher Feedback
Antibes, May 2007 - ACS Hillingdon International School - Teacher Feedback
Antibes, May 2007 - ACS Hillingdon International School
Paris, Easter 2007 - Radley College
Nice, Easter 2007 - Elmhurst School for Dance
Nice, Easter 2006 - Elmhurst School for Dance
Aix-en-Provence, March 2005 - ACS Hillingdon International School
Salamanca, 2005 - Dulwich College - GROUP LEADER FEEDBACK
Salamanca, 2005 - Dulwich College - STUDENT FEEDBACK
Salamanca, 2004 - Dulwich College - Group Leader Feedback
Bordeaux, 'A'-Level Course - Jenny Conaty & Ashleigh Cook
Bordeaux, 2-week Trip to France - Joyce Stevenson

:: Group Leader – Putney High School
:: Cordoba, Spain 2010
:: Teacher Feedback

"Cordoba was great, the school and families were excellent. The pupil exchange worked really well with the local secondary school and Eduardo and the team were really solicitous. All the girls learnt a lot and enjoyed it lots apart from the rain!!"

:: Group Leader – Wycombe Abbey
:: Seville, Spain 2009
:: Teacher Feedback

"I chose Cactus because of the quick responses to my requests for various destinations and itineraries. Regarding the school, it was great to have patio available and internet, and the accompanying staff spoke highly of lessons."

:: Annya – Wycombe Abbey
:: Seville, Spain 2009
:: Student Feedback

"After this trip, I feel that I can speak more fluently and that I understand more things and apart from having improved my Spanish I have also learnt a lot about Spanish culture."

:: Tosca – Wycombe Abbey
:: Seville, Spain 2009
:: Student Feedback

"I loved every single visit; I especially enjoyed the Cathedral of Seville and riding in the carriages."

:: Anna – Wycombe Abbey
:: Seville, Spain 2009
:: Student Feedback

"I felt really welcome by my host family. At first they spoke slowly so I could understand everything and they corrected me when I got something wrong."

:: Rebecca – Wycombe Abbey
:: Seville, Spain 2009
:: Student Feedback

"Lessons were really fun and useful. The teachers really encouraged us to talk in Spanish, which was really good, and I learnt lots of grammar and phrases as well."

:: Miss Rice - teacher – Levenshulme High School
:: Florence, Italy 2008
:: Teacher Feedback

"The School had an excellent environment and surroundings. It was friendly and welcoming and had good resources. The accommodation had an excellent location and very comfortable rooms for the girls. What our students enjoyed most was getting to know new friends, becoming more confident in their Italian and tasting real Italian Ice Cream! This was a truly excellent trip, extremely well organised and meticulously planned. The length of excursions was just right, the guides friendly and helpful and very informative. As my first school trip I couldn’t have had a more positive experience”

:: Kirsty Tollan – Levenshulme High School
:: Florence, Italy 2008
:: Student Feedback

"“In class we did role play and descriptions, they were funny. The accommodation was very clean and there was a lot of space in our room. I enjoyed all the trip. I would love to go on another trip like this one!”

:: Sidra Ghaus – Levenshulme High School
:: Florence, Italy 2008
:: Student Feedback

"“The school was brilliant and the lessons were very interesting. I loved the town and its inhabitants. I enjoyed shopping, talking to Italian people and ice cream. I would definitely like to go on another trip like this one, it would be a dream come true!”

:: Fareha Sheraz – Levenshulme High School
:: Florence, Italy 2008
:: Student Feedback

"“The classes were really interesting and educational. I enjoyed seeing the monuments and buildings of Florence. If I did the same trip again I’d like to make it slightly longer.”

:: Jessica – Tiffin Girls School
:: Malaga, Spain (June 2008)
:: Student Feedback

"If you're going on a similar trip this year, you are very, very lucky. It took the trip for me to realise that a foreign language isn't something dreamt up by sadistic exam boards to make you panic; it's a new way to express yourself and to talk to other people. Once you've realised that what's paramount is what's being said, the language that it's being said in is a minor obstacle that immersing yourself in the culture makes you strive to overcome.

The School
First impressions of our place of study were that it looked more like a hotel than a school, surrounded by palm trees with a large patio for the students to assemble. Our group was shepherded off to a room with a teacher who introduced herself as Yolanda, and was given a test. With only two years of Spanish lessons behind us we were panicking to find ourselves expected to know something called the subjunctive.
But, as so often is the case with these things, our panic was completely disproportionate. We were christened ‘el grupo especial' - the special group, and sent off to complete our first few hours of language lessons. With the small group and the lessons conducted totally in Spanish, we found ourselves making great progress. You don't realise how much of the language you know until you have to use it. Or failing that, charades is always an option. I still hope I may one day live down my attempt to portray a frog or miming stabbing in a discussion of London's problems with crime. All in all, both our command of the language and our confidence advanced hugely, and by midway through the week we were all chatting away happily in Spanish.

Accommodation
Although looking forward to fun in the sun and experiencing some Spanish cultura, at the initial stage of our trip our primary concern was the fact that we would be staying in host families that is with Spanish people who would speak to us in Spanish. Our apprehension dissolved, however, when my friend and I finally arrived at our host family's home after a long evening of travelling, exhausted and nervous, and we were greeted with hugs, kisses and addressed as either bonita - pretty, or hija - daughter. We were given a quick tour of the house and then found ourselves, to our disbelief, chatting about our host family's grown-up daughter, who lives in London. This mightn't sound like much, but when it's ten thirty at night and only two minutes ago you were positive that you couldn't remember a word of Spanish - it feels pretty impressive. ”

:: V. Fairclough-teacher– Brecon High School
:: 1-week trip to Barcelona, Spain(Feb 2008)
:: Teacher Feedback

"The school and the classes were very good as well as the accommodation that was extremely secure.”

"The classes were very helpful and I am definitely more confident with speaking now.”

"The lessons were nicely structured which made it easy to learn. It was great to improve vocabulary and get confidence in speaking. It was worth every penny!”

"I would like to thank you for taking good care of us for the organisation of the trip to Antibes in September. Both students and teachers were extremely happy and would like to use your services again either to go back to Antibes next year or go to Montpellier.”

:: Glyn Technical School - Teacher Feedback
:: 1-week trip to Malaga, Spain (Sept 2007)
:: Teacher Feedback

"The trip was fantastic. The school was amazing and the quality of lessons and teachers was outstanding. Boys have returned confident, buoyant and loving Spanish! All trips were fantastic and they especially enjoyed the football match (even though they thrashed us).

Will fill in questionnaires but wanted to let you know how pleased we were. Thanks for all your hard work."

Vicky Duffield, Glyn Technical School

:: ACS Hillingdon International School - Teacher Feedback
:: 1-Week Trip to Antibes, France (May 2007)
:: Teacher Feedback

"We looked into other Language travel companies and decided we would repeat our booking with Cactus as we were satisfied with the location and previous trips we have been on. We found the school and classes to be friendly and the food was very good for the students! The town was cosy and the accomodation was good, the students loved going to beach too as the weather was nice! We would most definitely recommend Cactus to friends and colleagues."

Catherine Sweeney, ACS Hillingdon International

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:: ACS Hillingdon International School - Student Feedback
:: 1-Week Trip to Antibes, France (May 2007)
:: Student Feedback

For my first trip abroad I found the school to be pretty and the classes to be very well organised. The accomodation was good and the bear by town was beautiful, peacfull and historical. I would recommend Cactus to my friends and family.

Anon Student, ACS Hillingdon International

:: Radley College
:: 1-Week Trip to Paris, France (Easter 2007)
:: Teacher Feedback

We investigated other language travel companies before Cactus, but decided on Cactus because of value for money. The school was very good and classes were well organised. Paris is lovely and our group especially enjoyed the Paris museums, although they least enjoyed the the amount of work that they had to do! We would recommend Cactus to friends and colleagues. Looking forward to doing the same again next year!

Lucy Smart, Radley College

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:: Elmhurst School for Dance
:: 1-Week Trip to Nice, France (Easter 2007)
:: Teacher Feedback

"The format of the trip (lessons in the morning-excursions in the afternoon-evening in host families) worked well. Very positive feedback from students regarding the cultural and linguistic outcomes of the trip."

I believe the format of the trip really gave the opportunity for the students to:

• Improve their language skills (through lessons and having to communicate with host families)
• Their cultural skills (through their stay in host families, excursions, dinner at the restaurant and an afternoon at he cinema)
• Their independent skills (through having to be on their own in their host families and being in charge of their journey to and from school)

The half board option worked well this year and students enjoyed being able to buy their own food. Easter is a good time to go (overall good weather-holidays long enough). The year 10 Dance parents evening fitted well with the organisation of the trip, allowing parents to take away suitcases and say goodbye to their children before departure. The length of the trip worked well. An early journey back on Friday felt less straining than last year. The arrival on midday Saturday is a practical choice, allowing students to spend half a day with their host families and being shown the way to school.

The school in Nice overall did a good job. The building and classroom arrangements were suitable. The location of the school in central Nice is ideal. Students enjoyed the lessons and gave positive feedback. The teacher liaised on a regular basis with accompanying staff. She felt the group displayed a positive attitude towards learning but were sometimes a little lively.

During the quote, booking and planning stages, Cactus were overall efficient and professional. They were easy to get in touch with via email and Sarah Spencer was efficient with the paper work. My inspection visit was well organised and the school and Cactus listened carefully to my request as a group leader.

Mr and Mrs Vetter: Excellent feedback from students. Reliable and kind. Extremely helpful when two of the students were ill. Ideal for girls.

Mr and Mrs Profillet: Feedback from students was positive. Mrs Profillet was a little disappointed by the lack of independence of some of the boys and was unhappy about the damages made by one of the students after being unwell.

Mr and Mrs Suppa: Excellent feedback from students. Very reliable and homely family. Excellent for boys.

Mrs Billard: New family. Excellent feedback from the girls. Good for girls."

Anne-Gaelle, Elmhurst School

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:: Elmhurst School for Dance
:: 1-Week Trip to Nice, France (Easter 2006)
:: Teacher Feedback

"The trip went very well and the students really enjoyed it! Thanks for your hard work. I am waiting for the go ahead for next year from my management team, but we will renew our booking with your company.

The format of the trip (lessons in the morning-excursions in the afternoon-evening in host families) worked well. Very positive feedback from students regarding the cultural and linguistic outcomes of the trip.

I believe the format of the trip really gave the opportunity for the students to improve

• their language skills (through lessons and having to communicate with host families)
• their cultural skills (through their stay in host families, excursions and dinner at the restaurant)
• their independent skills (through having to be on their own in their host families and being in charge of their journey to and from school)

The arrival on midday Saturday is a very good and practical choice, allowing students to spend half a day with their host families and being shown the way to school.

The school in Nice overall did a good job. Students enjoyed the lessons and gave very positive feedback on them. The questionnaire on the Wednesday and the song were particularly popular. Teachers liaised on a regular basis with accompanying staff and were positive on the overall achievement and attitude of the group. The management was overall efficient. When problems were raised they were dealt on the whole efficiently and professionally.

The excursions were overall good and well chosen. The guides were efficient and knew the itinerary well. All train bookings had been done in advance and were well organised.

During the quote, booking and planning stages, Cactus were overall efficient and very professional. They were easy to get in touch with via email and Laura Woodhead was very efficient with the paper work and liaising with the school in Nice. My inspection visit was well organised and the school and Cactus listened carefully to my request as a group leader.

The host families were overall good and took good care of the students. A few incidents occurred with certain group, but nothing major putting the safety of students at risk.

Many thanks again."

Anne-Gaelle, Elmhurst School

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:: ACS Hillingdon International School
:: 1-Week Trip to Aix-en-Provence, France (March 2005)
:: Group Leader Feedback

"The school was very professional and looked after us very well. Aix itself is beautiful and, although it's expensive even for short stays, our students loved the whole experience of being there. The trip was a great success."

Arthur Clare and Catherine Sweeney, ACS

:: Dulwich College
:: Repeat Booking of a 1-Week Trip to Salamanca, Spain (Oct 2005)
:: Group Leader Feedback

"The trip this year followed a very similar format to last year, but with the help of Cactus we were able to improve a couple of features.

It was a very successful trip, with boys and staff rating it as the best school trip they had been on.

Host families were once again well chosen, and presented no problems. They were all within walking distance of the school and the students were well fed and looked after. Last year there was the odd complaint – food not good, families not speaking to the boys, nothing too serious. This year however there were no such complaints and I think that the families were very well chosen.

The school was a success once again. The lessons were informative and fun and throughout the week I didn’t hear one complaint about the lessons, and this was a group of 15-year-old boys! The school was a vital link between us and the host families, and would call up all the families individually if we had a message to get to them regarding the boys. The teachers and other staff were professional and well organised. They were also adaptable to our demands (eg. wanting the boys to focus more on their GCSE coursework topics).

We were very pleased with our guides when we took the group out on excursions – especially Marta, who took us around Madrid. The excursions were to Ávila, Ciudad Rodrigo and Madrid. Whilst in Salamanca we took the boys on a walking tour of the city, played football on the University playing fields (organised by the school), spent a couple of hours in an arcade and still managed to give them a good couple of hours free time every day to explore Salamanca, sample some tapas etc."

Ben Pelly. Group Leader, Dulwich College

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:: Dulwich College
:: Repeat Booking of a 1-Week Trip to Salamanca, Spain (Oct 2005)
:: Feedback from one of the students

"We began this fine expedition at about 6 am on the first Sunday of the Michaelmas half term break. Our small congregation met on the South gravel. The coach showed up a while later than expected, got loaded up with bags and year 11s, and headed off for Stansted. An hour and a half later, we pulled up in the car park and took all our bags off, marching onward to check-in. No more than two hours later, and we were on the plane. Insufficient sleep meant that most caught up on it on the plane, and we arrived at the tiny airport an hour off Salamanca.

Meeting our families (that we had to spend the week with) at the school (that we had to go to every day) came next, while we were shown the route to school and back from school a little bit later. Most of us were then given a little bit of free time to march round “El Plaza Major” and return to the house a bit later. Those of us that did get free time found the teachers enjoying a large “cerveza” bang in the middle of town. This not dampening spirits at the fact that we couldn’t partake in this, we marched off to enjoy the local cuisine. Well, I certainly got the local interpretation of Pizza Hut anyway. We all got back to our houses for about 7.30pm to eat meals with our families.

Early the next day, we arrived at the school for 9 am. Other pairs had different journeys from all the corners of the town, and some of us took as long as possible at the thrilling thought of school in the morning. Four lessons of an hour each were probably intended to get us sufficiently bored enough to enjoy ourselves more for the rest of the day, but we found them a lot of fun anyway. We spent the afternoon of the next day up in a walled city called “Avila”, where we visited the buildings inside the city walls, and took a tour around the edge of the famous ramparts. We got back to Salamanca for free time until an 8pm curfew, where I enjoyed another Fast-Food chain’s cuisine, this time a McDonald’s, and a quick jog back home before the family panicked.

Tuesday came much the same as Monday, early school for four hours, chatting to the group of Brits from Sussex or Essex during our breaks. Lunch hour brought a swift walk round town for something to keep us going, other than the lunches our families had given us.

In the afternoon we took a local bus to a ‘centro comercial’ out of town. It was pretty quiet for a large shopping centre, but we occupied ourselves with the homework and the joke shop until we met at the arcade for a while to play games and win toys. The bus back took a while, and we had free time around Salamanca until dinner at about 8. Some of us found the local tapas bars, others went to “H & M” to buy hats or gloves or an umbrella.

At 9am on Wednesday we all had re-gathered at school for lessons. The lessons passed quickly, as usual, to let the teachers take us on a tour round Salamanca, showing off the Cathedral and the University grounds, marching back to the school to catch a coach off to “Ciudad Rodrigo”. Here we marched round the town, with a bit of free time in town to grab a plate of tapas in any local restaurant.

Walking back to the coach brought us up to the visitor centre, complete with a large clothing rack for trying on the clothes of the Medieval era. Many of the boys and even some of the teachers took an unhealthy interest in playing ‘dressing up’ as Medieval soldiers. We learnt a fair bit about the history of this other walled town, crucial in the crushing defeats by Wellington to liberate Europe from Napoleon. The hour-and-a-half lug back to Salamanca took less time than it felt like, but we still made it back for an hour in McDonald’s and my regular run to the flat I stayed in.

Thursday didn’t play to the timetable from the previous days. We had to meet at the school by 8, so we could all catch the coach to Madrid. This was a long journey. We passed miles and miles of plains and flats, until the mountains surrounding the capital. Our tour guide embarked, and helped us remember that it was in fact the anniversary of the battle of Trafalgar, in which the British smashed both the French and Spanish navies hands down. We went to El Prado art museum, which was actually uncannily interesting. Continuing out tour of Madrid we came to the Bernabeu, the Real Madrid football stadium, which we took a tour round, and then we had an hour free time in some of the main shopping streets of Madrid. Most people used this time to buy presents for our parents and brothers and sisters, and gulp down some tapas or something. The bus journey brought us back to reality, getting us into Salamanca with about half an hour to 9pm curfew again. That was plenty of time for a stroll amongst the backstreets, with another McDonald’s!

Friday was our last full day. We had only two lessons, a break, and followed by a Spanish film for the last two lessons. Each of us were given a sheet with our marks in different aspects of the course and with comments from our teachers – on the whole very complimentary. We left for lunch hour, and came back to promptly to head off to the University’s football ground. Most of the boys played, along with the teachers, and despite the rain, everybody had a good run around. A long walk back, laughing and joking, to go to the arcade at the top end of town, where we all stayed for a while with the teachers, and played pool, Time Crisis and table football. Later, we had an 9.30 curfew, and we all got off home.

Saturday we all got up to get to school for 10. Allowing time to pack and wash .etc. I turned up late, leaving my bags in a giant pile with the rest. We made our way to the school and loaded onto the bus, which unloaded and departed after an hour and a half to take us to the airport. The flight was uneventful, and we were all pretty tired by the time we arrived back at Stansted. Half of the group caught tubes and trains out of the airport, and the rest fell asleep on the way back to Dulwich.

The trip was enjoyed by all who were on it, and our thanks go to Mr Pelly, Mr Ellis, Mr Nash and Mr Seth for organising it and getting us back in one piece."

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:: Dulwich College
:: 1-Week Trip to Salamanca, Spain (Oct 2004)
:: Group Leader Feedback

"We all got back fine - slightly tired but overall the trip was a fantastic success. We were all really pleased with a number of things about the trip (many on the notes below), but I wanted to single out both Cactus' and your contribution. It certainly made my life a great deal easier than anticipated, and I know that both boys and parents were impressed by the level of commitment. We are keen to keep this going - and whilst there are a number of suggestions we would like to make - none, I would hope, are impossible to manage. If next year does go ahead my colleague will be organising the trip and he is also a member of the Spanish Department here.

Again - thanks so much - it was enormously successful. Let me know your thoughts on all the attached.
Toby.

Lessons & School:
I was extremely pleased with these - the boys enjoyed them and found them useful. The school was also excellent: well situated, good teachers, good level of organisation, and the staff were helpful to us.

Trips:
These were very good - the guide was absolutely outstanding and if we go again next year (which we are keen to do) we would definitely want him again.
It was suggested that the half-day trips to Avila + Segovia could be combined - I'm not sure if this would be feasible - your advice would be appreciated.

Telephone:
On other trips we have arranged for a "pay as you go" mobile to be available for my use - this would cut telephone costs immensely. If the school could organise this that would be a great bonus.

Pricing:
If we were prepared to make a provisional booking now I would hope Cactus could maintain the price."

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:: Bordeaux
:: 1-week 'A'-Level Revision Trip to France (March)

"We did the A Level Revision Course and the week was brilliant for improving our confidence and our ability to get around ways of saying things. I thought it was great that none of the teachers would speak English: they were all really easy to understand, with clear accents, and if we weren’t sure of a word they would describe it to us in French which gave us loads of synonyms which are useful for our exams."

Jenny Conaty & Ashleigh Cook



:: Bordeaux
:: 2-week Trip to France (August)

"Dear Laura,

I apologize for taking so long in writing, but I just want to tell you what an amazing time I had in Bordeaux this summer! Being close to 50 years old and never having visited Europe, I was certainly hesitant about heading off to France by myself and leaving my family behind in Canada for 3 weeks (2 week course and 1 week travel with my daughter, who joined me later). However, once I arrived in Bordeaux, I couldn't believe how friendly and helpful everyone was, not only at the school but at my host family's home and even in the city of Bordeaux. I really enjoyed the General Course I took and my teacher, Caroline, made everyone feel very comfortable speaking French. My fellow classmates were of all ages, from all over Europe and a very outgoing group. Most spoke French very well so our "dialogues" and conversations in class were usually quite animated! School excursions were informative and fun with Dorotka and Marie always there to be of assistance.

Since returning to Canada, I have taken on a new teaching position of Grade 1 French Immersion at my public school. This requires speaking French all day to 6 year old English-speaking children. Before going to France, I felt that I was fairly bilingual but not very confident with my French. This course and the experience of living and speaking French every day really helped my confidence as well as my fluency! It will be an experience that I will remember for a lifetime, and one that I hope to repeat someday.

Thank you so much for your advice and assistance in setting up the course arrangements. I would certainly (and have already) highly recommended your organization to other teachers as a exciting way to learn French. I have also added your website to my links on my teacher website for parents and students at my school.

Thanks again.

Joyce Stevenson, Hillsburgh, Ontario"

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