Trip to understand the Normanisation of the Church

To help with our Normans unit in History, Year 10 historians had the pleasure of visiting St Albans Cathedral on November 14th 2023. We learnt about the Normanisation of the Church and how this helped William establish control over England. The day began with a talk about the wall paintings, which was popular among the girls. They learned about how paintings were made, who the people were in the paintings and the significance of each one. The paintings were about 500 years old, so naturally, a lot of it had faded and it was difficult to make out much of it. The staff at the cathedral brought the paintings back to life with their projectors so that we could see what they looked like in the past. Everyone was then split into 4 different groups with one guide each, who showed us all of the historical objects from that time period and taught us about shrines, archbishops, monks and more. We were fascinated by all of the artefacts and all of the information about where they had come from and the significance of each one. By the end of the day, it was safe to say that everyone had learned a lot.

St Albans Cathedral, thank you for having us!

Lily-Jade T

Year 12 A-Level Law students explore the option of pursuing Law in higher education with a visit to the University of Hertfordshire

On 9th November 2023, Year 12 students of A-Level Law visited the University of Hertfordshire to participate in sessions relating to higher education. They heard from current students about studying at university, in particular what it would be like to study law. Students from the University ran an informative session about police powers of stop and search including some role play and identifying whether the stop and search was lawful. Then the students enjoyed a sample lecture on murder.

A highlight of the trip was a mock bail hearing in the University’s replica Crown Court, in which a student was placed in the dock (temporarily!). Students from the university played the defence and prosecution lawyers and the Year 12 students got to be the judge and decide whether bail should be granted. The trip ended with the Year 12 students dressing up in wigs and gowns, a career goal for many and an inspiring end to the day!