Four pupils at Calne’s Springfields Academy are preparing for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity as part of the The Extreme Classroom project.

Starting on September 28, Year 10 pupils Caitlin, Stefan, Tim and Sid will be joined by three Springfields staff aiming to complete a four-day cycle ride around Mount Blanc – Europe’s tallest mountain.

The pupils applied with hundreds of pupils who also experience complex learning, emotional, social and behavioural difficulties before being accepted with 20 others from around the country.

Organiser from the academy, Kevin Derby, said: “What this Extreme Classroom will do is prove to not only the pupils themselves, but to everyone, that the labels they may have been given in the past do not have to hold them back.

“With the right support, guidance and by believing in what we stand for as an academy we are proving that even children with some of the most complex needs in special education can achieve anything they set their minds to.”

Tour de Mont Blanc is a 350km route through France, Switzer- land and Italy including nine major Tour de France climbs and an overall ascent of 9,000 metres.

The course would take about 24 hours for an elite team to complete, and the pupils’ target is four days of cycling with a single rest day in the middle.

They will cycle a maximum of 94km in a single 12-hour day with temperatures ranging from the high 20s at the bottom to almost freezing at the highest altitude.

Mr Derby said: “The biggest part of training has been mentally preparing the pupils and not just physically training them.

“It will be the toughest experience of their lives mentally as well as physically... to increase self-confidence as well as create a cycling legacy which can be used throughout the academy to increase participation in sport.”

Picture caption:  Left to right, are Kevin Derby, Nichola Pritchard (manager), Jane Derby (business manager), Linda Matthews, Dianne Marsh. Front, Tim Clark and Caitlin Dutton