Trips in the Middle School

Residential trips: Carroty Wood, France, The Battlefields, Stubbers.

Recent theatre trips:  Coram Boy and War Horse at The National Theatre, Pygmalion at the Old Vic, A Midsummer Night’s Dream at The Open Air Theatre, Romeo and Juliet at the Bloomsbury Theatre , Watership Down at the Wimbledon Theatre.

Recent visits: Verulanium at St Albans, The British Museum, The Science Museum, The Natural History Museum, The Foundling Museum, The Museum of London, The O2 Centre, The Tate Gallery, Hampton Court, Docklands, London Zoo, Lords Cricket Ground, Wimbledon, The Davis Cup.

Y9 Science trip

For Year Nine, Friday morning began with an hour or travelling. After filing into to coaches we travelled, or rather crawled through the central London towards Exhibition Road.

Upon arrival we entered the Natural History Museum. We made our way up the escalator to explore the tremulous world of volcanoes and earthquakes. After
persusing vast quantities of information, some of the very brave amongst us tried out the earthquake simulator. Other highlights of the Natural History Museum included rows of stuffed animals specimens and, of course, the dinosaurs!

A huge selection of the museum was dedicated to their fossilized remains and reconstructions of what these astounding animals might have looked like. By this

time most of us were dreaming about lunch, and so we proceeded to a communal dining area. After lunch, and thankfully not before we went to the Science Museum an learnt about some gory medical history. We then caught sight of a rollercoaster simulator. We paid a pound each, and came out the other side dizzy, yet amazed by how realistic it had been. An exhibition about genetics and what makes you, you, came next on the agenda. It was a very interactive section of the museum, filled with little machines telling you about the functioning of your brain.

Halfway through, we were greeted by a voice announcing that we 'must leave the museum immediately' and 'not use the lift'. From the top of the museum we ran down flights of stairs to a fire exit. We then gathered outside and waited for a signal to go back in. Unfortunately, it was too late by then, and we all had to trundle back into the coach. I assume it was a false alarm, because we did not watch the building burst into flames or implode. Despite the unexpected ending, Year Nine would like to thank all the teachers who took us on this fantastic trip.

Y8 Art Trip

On a damp and overcast Friday we boarded our coaches for the first of our exhibitions; “Indian Highways” at the Serpentine Gallery in Hyde Park. There we were met with a wild assortment of contemporary Indian Art including brilliantly coloured paintings; video installations; a sculpture that you could crawl through and a  true-to-life reconstruction of a dusty Indian sub-post office.

We forgot about the weather and hurried to explore this fascinating collection of contemporary art. We then walked across Hyde Park to have our sandwiches sitting on the steps in front of the Albert Memorial. After the colourful confusion of “Indian Highway” there was something calm and majestic about Prince Albert’s statue perched within his ornate Gothic shelter, forever worrying about the state of British design.

Moving on to Trafalgar Square we next visited the National Portrait Gallery to see the work exhibited on all three floors. Everyone made drawings of the portraits from the Tudor and Modern portrait sections, admiring the sheer skill and draughtsmanship of the artists we were studying. We then stopped by to look at the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize entries on the ground floor. These were brilliant; almost as good as the entries for the Channing Portrait Photography competition that was held last term.

After an exciting and productive day at the galleries we made our way back to our coach for our ride back to Channing.

Tower of London