Action Packed Exploration of One of the World’s Greatest Cities

On the 28^th March seventeen Year 10 pupils accompanied by Mrs Johns, Ms Nickson and Mr Taylor flew to Barcelona to explore the city, Catalan culture and put their Spanish language skills to use.

Many thanks to Mrs Johns for organising the trip. By the time the group returned on Sunday 31^st March, pupils had explored Barcelona’s famous landmarks and heritage, starting on Friday with La Plaça de Catalunya, seeing Gaudí’s architecture along the way and culminating with a visit to La Sagrada Família basilica. Having ascended one of the towers, pupils could see the whole skyline of this famous city. Cooling off in the beautiful Parc de la Ciutadella, they finished the day with the nightly sound and light spectacle of La Fuente Mágica (The Magic Fountain).

The following day, by contrast, the pupils discovered the culinary heritage of the region starting with the historic and colourful La Boqueria food market, being initially guided round the stalls by one of Barcelona’s chefs. The Chocolate Museum proved popular too, followed by beach-time at La Platja de Barceloneta. The day concluded with a stroll up Las Ramblas to a typical tapas restaurant for the evening meal.

The visit concluded on Sunday with the chance to explore one more of Gaudí’s modernist creations, the Park Güell, before a lunch at the hotel and departure for the airport by coach. This was the first visit to Barcelona in this format and we look forward to offering a similar programme to pupils in the years to come.

Quotes

• “It was amazing, we did so much in such a short space of time and I learnt so much” GH 
• “It was a really exciting trip. I learnt a lot about the Spanish culture and enjoyed looking at all the famous places and practising the language” MdC 
• “We had a brilliant time on the Barcelona Trip. The teachers made it really enjoyable and the activities were so fun! I wish we could have stayed longer” EA
• “It was an amazing trip and a great experience! I absolutely loved every second” GW
• “It was a fantastic experience filled with lots of fun, thought-provoking activities to do around Barcelona” EH
• “I really enjoyed our trip to Barcelona particularly the day we spent at the beach. It was beneficial to practise our Spanish and I loved watching the magic fountain display” TH
• “The trip was lots of fun and very interesting. It was exciting to practise Spanish with other people e.g. the ice cream man. I enjoyed it a lot. The best part was watching the Magic Fountain performance. It was amazing and La Sagrada Familia and Park Güell were breath-taking”  AS 
• “I found the trip lots of fun and very interesting. I also liked the tapas meal we had, especially the chicken croquettes. I would 100% recommend other years to go on this trip. It also helped with learning and practising our Spanish”  EM
• “I found the trip to Barcelona really helpful to practise listening and speaking Spanish. I loved the Magic Fountain and La Sagrada Família. Also I liked visiting the food market and finding out about the different food eaten in Spain and their history”  F O-A

Young Carers visit a local gallery and get a chance to make their own art with guidance from 3 artists.

On Thursday 26th March, eight Young Carers from Years 7 and 8 visited Mardleybury Gallery near Woolmer Green. They were welcomed by the gallery owner and artist, Marilyn Comparetto, who invited the girls to look around the gallery at the different artwork by various artists. They photographed some of the pieces that interested them and then had their own turn at using pastels, chalks and pencils to create a picture from this inspiration. As well as Marilyn’s guidance, they also had two other artists: Trevor Childs and Maureen Masterman, who showed them how they work. The pupils were highly engaged by their input and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon of drawing and chatting.

“I don’t often get time to myself to draw,” commented one Young Carer. Several others agreed and were thrilled when they were presented with their own mini art box at the end of the afternoon.

Many thanks to all at Mardleybury Gallery for such a wonderful opportunity you gave the girls, in your own time. And thank you to the Young Carers who took part as well as Mrs Ruffhead for accompanying the group.

Year 10 pupils get top tips from leading scientists for their Science GCSEs

by Ibukun O. (Year 10)

GCSE Science Live took place on 1st March. It was a relaxed experience where Year 10 pupils were able to hear from different scientists and be educated on their area of expertise. When hearing about how weird the molecular structure of ice was with synthetic chemist Andrea Sella, we were able to view a series of experiments that questioned the information that we assume today and see how dry ice contradicts that. Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock showed us clips of how she believes the moon came to be and how it helps us. We also heard about the environment and genetics and that ‘1 in 3 people will die because of reasons associated with our genes’ from Prof. Steve Jones and Prof. Lucie Green explaining technology and space exploration concerning the sun. Robert Winston, the last professor we heard from, showed us the importance and how fascinating the body is and our growing knowledge of fertility and ways of treating infertility. It was interactive and interesting, not to mention insightful as we heard from a GCSE chief examiner who provided some tips and tricks to doing well in the GCSE Science exams.