History Trip to Hampton Court Palace - Friday 30 September 2022

Ioan Lewis-Wedon 11F2 has written a short piece on his perspective of the school trip:

‘On Friday 30th September 22, a select 70 GCSE history students embarked on a visit with school to Hampton Court Palace. This visit was in correlation with our GCSE course, in which we study Henry VIII and his Ministers. The experience served as an exciting and insightful experience to help understand and visualise what we had studied.

Altogether the day was fantastic. It was surreal for all of us to be walking between the rooms in which the events that we had learnt about occurred centuries ago. Just taking in the profound grandeur surrounding us was awe-inspiring.

The day was split into two sections. Half of the group would start the day with a teacher-guided tour of the interior complex of Hampton court, and were given a chance to wander about the gardens before lunch.

The other half, would start with a ninety- minute educational session in which a guide would take us through miscellaneous historical sources listed on leaflets handed to all students, and use practical re-creations to relate them to key concepts within our unit. Both sub-groups swapped over to their counterpart's activities in the final hours of the experience before we all met up and headed back.
While I enjoyed the educational activities and found them helpful in visualizing my GCSE knowledge, I thrived in the freedom I was given to explore the complexes of Hampton course at my own pace. There was a great emphasis on independent analysis. I am sure I can speak on behalf of others that I am very grateful we were not hurried along the corridors in a tightened schedule, as that would surely have ruined the mood entirely.

Overall, I would argue that there was an apt balance of formal and informality to the experience, with each aspect complimenting greatly to the overall enjoyment and usefulness of the trip.
Looking back on the experience, I would say it was definitely worth paying for, and my gratitude extends to the History department for going out of their way to organize such an experience for students. I can, with confidence, say that it has greatly benefited students' immersion with their GCSEs sufficiently, and ones like it would be an amazing addition to any GCSE course.’