A group of students from Candlebark School near Romsey were in an area of Paris that was bombed about an hour before the November 13 terror attacks.
The nine year 10s, who were wrapping up a six-week trip to France, returned home safely early last week, having flown out of Paris in the hours after the attacks that killed more than 130 people.
Candlebark principal John Marsden said that, while a little shaken, the teenagers were no worse for wear.
‘‘They’d been in one of the areas that was bombed, about an hour before the bomb went off,’’ he said.
‘‘Fortunately, they’d returned to their accommodation before it all happened.’’
Mr Marsden said it had been a disturbing way to end the tour.
‘‘There were sirens going all night and, when they went to the airport the next morning, they said it felt like a city that had been completely traumatised,’’ he said.
Heightened security and detours made the trip to the airport a little harder, but Mr Marsden said the thoughts of the students were with the people they had spent so long interacting with and learning about.
‘‘They were obviously concerned for the people they’d met over there.
“And, of course, they really identify with the French way of life and that society.’’
Mr Marsden said the alternative education school sent at least one group a year off on an overseas trip, with students having previously travelled to China.
‘‘Getting to know other cultures is so important,’’ he said. ‘
‘It makes it less and less likely that we’ll have to have global wars while people are communicating with each other face to face.’’
