For Trips Day 4 we had a series of illuminating events on journalism, First Aid, Sex Ed, CSI and Financial Responsibility, while Years 8 & 9 were out and about at the Verulamium in St Albans and the Science Museum respectively and Year 13 headed off for a spot of bowling after a morning of finances.  

Year 7 Journalism Day  

Taking on the challenge of replicating a busy news team, Year 7 enjoyed an informative, dynamic day of drama and journalism workshops, culminating in an exciting group journalism challenge. Taking inspiration from the play ‘Our Day Out’ by Willy Russell (our current English text), students worked independently, taking on the roles of writers, directors, journalists, actors, camera-operators, and editors to create their own news programmes. This helped them develop skills in teamwork, leadership, scriptwriting, presenting, interviewing, directing, filming and editing. It was a very lively, productive and highly creative day!  

Year 8 Verulamium Museum and the Roman Theatre, St Albans  

The Roman town of Verulamium was the destination for Year 8, who spent the day visiting the remains of a theatre and a smart town house (complete with a hypocaust, or Roman central heating!). In the Verulamium Museum, students explored the artefacts, reconstructions, and interactive displays and then attended a workshop where they could handle a variety of everyday Roman objects. The trip is part of the work on Roman Life which students are doing as part of the Cambridge Latin Course.  

Year 9 - Science Museum 

Visiting the world-renowned Science Museum, Year 9 students were able to explore the Engineers Gallery and take a closer look at iconic objects such as the first digital camera, the cutting-edge CMR ‘Versius’ surgical robot arm, and a miniature atomic clock that the entire GPS system depends on, as well as learn more about the remarkable people who invented them. This was followed by an interactive workshop with one of the museum’s partner technicians to experience the hands-on nature of their job.  

Other thought-provoking galleries they explored included: the Mathematicians gallery, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, examining the fundamental role mathematicians, their tools and ideas have played in building the world we live in; the Technicians gallery with hands-on exhibits that bring to life a wide variety of workplaces, from a blockbuster film set to a pharmaceutical lab, allowing you to experience the hidden yet vital careers of technicians; and the Information Age gallery where students could find out about the science of communication and information network, discover how users, as well as inventors, influenced new technologies and consider how society has responded to these innovations. 

Year 10 - School of Sex Education + Study Skills 

Year 10 students spent the morning with The School of Sexuality Education, who help young people gain an understanding of ethical behaviour online and digital literacy skills through addressing online sexual harassment, image-sharing, as well as body image in media. The workshops are designed in response to the latest academic research with young people around teen digital sexual cultures and in collaboration with leading experts in gender, education and media studies from UCL, Kent University and the University of Leicester. 

For their afternoon session, Year 10 heard from Elevate Education to learn about a variety of study skills that will be essential in the coming years. Elevate Education has revolutionised the way study skills are taught around the world. Since expanding to the UK in 2013, Elevate’s programmes have already resulted in tangible improvements in student performance at over 850 UK schools.  

Year 11 - CSI Day  

In this exciting and insightful CSI Day, Year 11 students experienced what life is really like as a Crime Scene Investigator. They were put through their paces and challenged to think outside of the box to solve the problems involved in a murder investigation. Being given a brief on the history of investigative science, as well as the analysis of commonly found substances, students were able to analyse hair and fibre, ballistics, fingerprint, forensic dentistry, Photofits, blood splatter analysis and many other things.  

Year 12 - First Aid Training 

Learning the essential skills of basic life support and first aid, Year 12 were taught what to do in an emergency and how to respond to an unconscious casualty - getting hands-on experience in a number of emergency scenarios. Hear about the learning experience from Tarika: 

“For Trips Day, Year 12 were given the opportunity to learn first aid and earn a qualification. We began the day learning how to look for danger before treating a casualty in an emergency. That was followed by more practical aspects of first aid, including putting a casualty into the recovery position, which we had the joy of practising with each other.  

“We had also learnt how to do CPR on adults and children, as well as learning how to use a defibrillator. The instructor took us through the steps of how to do mouth-to-mouth CPR with a protective sheet, which we had used on dummies, but did learn that it wasn’t always necessary and that giving chest compressions at a rate of around 120 compressions a minute would have the same effect. As well as this, we also learnt what to do in case someone was choking. We went through the two moves: back-hitting, which is essentially hitting someone on the back with enough force until the blockage is cleared; and abdominal thrusts (previously known as the Heimlich Manoeuvre). Luckily, we weren’t allowed to try these on each other. The final thing we learnt was how to bandage an open-cut wound. Overall, we had an incredibly insightful and educational day where we learnt some very valuable skills that we can now use in any case of an emergency.” 

Written by Tarika, Year 12 

Year 13 - Finance Workshop + Bowling 

In a bid to set our students on the right track in preparation for adulthood and independence, whether at university or in work, our Year 13 students had the opportunity to learn about finances and financial responsibility. We discussed financial matters, from graduate salaries, budgeting and how to apply for student finance, with lots of opportunity for questions ahead of the student finance deadline in May. 

After a serious morning session, and to take a break from all the study, our students got to enjoy a game of bowling at the local bowling alley to enjoy their very last trips day!