MORE than 20 Jersey schoolchildren were stranded in France overnight on Thursday when HD Ferries failed to tell them that their sailing time had changed.

The 22 students, all aged 11 and 12 from Haute Vallée School, had been on a day-trip visiting their pen-friends in Avranches and had no luggage with them.

However, the overnight stay was welcomed by the Year 7 pupils, who saw the unexpected chance to eat in a restaurant and stay in a French hotel as an unexpected adventure.

The vessel had originally been timetabled to sail at 9 pm but was changed to 6.15 pm without anyone telling the school group. On arriving at the harbour in France, the three members of staff accompanying the Year 7 pupils were horrified to learn that their boat had already left.

The school’s head of languages, Lena Oliveira, said that it was lucky that she spoke fluent French. ‘I don’t understand why nobody had told us about the time change,’ she said. ‘However, the girl from HD was really helpful and helped us to sort out a hotel.