It was a crisp Wintry morning when Mrs Fitzpatrick and Ms Sandringham along with the Year 7 SEND/ALN students embarked on their first ever trip to see ‘A Christmas Carol’ at the Painted Hall in the Royal Naval College.

The students have been studying the text this term and we hoped that a visual performance would bring it alive and make it more memorable for them.

As we strolled through Greenwich Park, the main topic of conversation seemed to be pets and other animals! On arrival at the Painted Hall, we were shown into the café area for refreshments before being taken upstairs to the fabulous performance space. The play was an interesting interpretation of the text and involved lots of music, singing and interaction with the audience!

The highlight for many was a fantastic puppet of Tiny Tim made from a violin, not to mention the ‘Propercorn’.

We stopped to refuel again afterwards before heading back up the hill to school. We only just made it back in time for lunch as the numerous dogs in the park caused quite a distraction! The students were wonderful company and seemed to really enjoy the opportunity to have a morning getting to know each other and discovering their shared love of animals, as well as Charles Dickens of course.

Here are some of their comments:

I thought it was pretty fun since we got to experience something even if it wasn’t learning. The play was odd and strange but that’s what made it enjoyable - Isabella M

We went to watch a Christmas carol in the theatre. It was good but they did miss some bits in the book. When it was finished we started to come back to school slowly as we saw 7 dogs and fed them and stroked them (they were so cute). When we got back we got to have lunch straight away. - Sonia 

I really enjoyed getting out of school to see the performance. It made the entire story come together and make a bit more sense. It was also really fun walking across the park and taking a bit of a break from school. - Jasmine

I thought that the trip was really fun and I liked how they changed it a bit. I thought Marley’s ghost made the whole thing a lot more interesting and spooky. The way they made Fan still be alive, means that if you have already read the book, it is a slight change and it made me want to keep watching and seeing why they made the change. - Claudia 

Walking there to the naval College was very fun and we learnt lots. - India

I loved the dogs in the park. The play was interesting as the main role was Jacob Marley instead of Scrooge. - Lily May