From Monday 19^th to Friday 23^rd September Year 11 students went to London for their residential school trip.

On Monday morning, staff and students met up bright and early for their train to Brussels in order to catch the Eurostar to London. Upon arrival students along with members of staff had the chance to familiarise themselves around the local area before having dinner in ‘One New Change’ located near St Paul’s Cathedral.

On the second day, after a delicious cooked breakfast, students took a trip to the Olympic village where they had the chance to slide down the Anish Kapoor tower. Lunch was followed by a trip on the high wire across the River Thames to Greenwich. At Greenwich they walked up to the Royal Observatory for a show in the planetarium called Asteroid Mission Extreme. They then walked back under Thames through the Greenwich foot tunnel taking the tube to Aldgate East where they met their tutor guide for the Jack the Ripper historic walk. After this gruesome adventure they retreated into the comfort of one of Brick lanes famous Balti houses for a well-deserved curry!

On Wednesday after a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, staff and students took a stroll around St Paul’s then continued over the Millennium bridge to the Tate Modern for a spot of culture. Whilst most students took in the permanent collection, Ms Thomas took the students studying GCSE Art to see the Georgia O’Keeffe exhibition. At 2:30pm Ms Williams and Mr Reilly took the drama and music students to see a matinee performance of ‘Matilda’ at the Cambridge Theatre, whilst the rest of the students went with Ms Thomas and Mr Burrows to Camden to the Jewish museum to see the Juke box, Jewbox exhibition about the influence of the Jewish community of popular music. They all meet up for dinner in the Camden Lock food market before going back to the hostel for a well needed rest.

On the final day of the trip, staff and students saw off a final cooked breakfast before splitting into groups for various activities. Mr Burrowes took the Media Studies group to the bbfc for a seminar on censorship, they learnt how the bbfc classify films for age restrictions, whilst Mrs Thomas took the Art students to the Royal Academy to see Hockney’s ‘82 portraits and 1 still life’. Meanwhile, Ms Williams and Mr Reilly were at the Southbank with the Radio 3 schools sessions, where our students got to present and record a radio show. At 1 o’clock Ms Williams took the drama students to the National Theatre for their back stage pass, part of their GCSE exam requirement. The rest of the students then took turns presenting and recording radio shows and saw a moving Art Exhibition at Southbank by people who are incarcerated in some way, created by the writer/poet Benjamin Zephaniah.

All groups headed back to the hostel to clean up and change before walking down Fleet Street and the Strand into Covent garden for an early dinner in Leicester square before seeing the 8:00pm performance of a Woman in Black at the Fortune Theatre.

Thank you to Ms Williams, Mr Reilly and Mr Burrowes for their help on the trip, the students had a packed full few days which allowed them to make the most of visiting such a vibrant captial city. Trips like these are an excellent opportunity for students to experience new cultures and to get to know one another outside the classroom.