On Thursday 28th February 2019, all of class 5/6 woke up very enthusiastically ready to go on the school trip to London! Some were anxious and had a belly full of butterflies and others woke up eager to get going on the train!
After 5/6 (Otters) had a nutritious breakfast they set off to Woodbridge train station and boarded the 8:38 Greater Anglia service to Ipswich station where we had to change for the 9:09 train to London Liverpool Street- we were very lucky on this train because we had reserved seats: some of us even got a table to sit by and play board games.
As we arrived in London, we were astounded at the amazing architecture around us. We had about a 10 minute walk to get to our first destination (The London Museum). On the way there we saw sections of the old city walls that used to surround London. We started to notice some differences between London and Hollesley almost right away: we could not hear any birds tweeting (the noise not the app, Twitter) and we could only see pigeons; the streets were crowded with people and they were moving so fast and no-one was stopping to say hello – unlike in Hollesley, where people always say, “Hello!”; we could smell the reek of air pollution from cars but…… there were also other smells which were a lot nicer with things like Greggs, coffee shops and other food restaurants – whereas in Suffolk our air is a lot cleaner. Some other things we noticed were that in London there were far more police and a lot more beeping of horns and some very different fashions.
We were met by a lady (who was called Maggie) as we entered The Museum of London, and she led us to the space where we would have our lunch. Then we collected our work packs and pencils and headed off to the exhibits. There were so many things to do and learn about: grave stones from rich Londoners, interactive games and even a miniature sculpture of St Pauls!
After we had looked at all the fantastic exhibits we sadly had to make our way to the underground once again!
When we got off the underground we took a walk to the Science Museum. Within minutes we were inside, dropping our bags off and heading upstairs (there were hundreds) to the Wonderlab. When we got there we sat down so our guide could tell us the rules. When we got into the actual Wonderlab we all spread out to look at different activities that we could do. There were lots of things to do: friction slides, spinning scale models of planets, magic mirror oval, heat cameras, pressure smoke machine and so many more! We learnt all about electricity and there was a big machine that created indoor lightning. Lawrence exclaimed, “The lightning thing was sick (cool)!” However Chloe disagreed, she thought, “It was just too loud!” It was, though, highly educational and fun, we learnt a lot and got to complete lots of hands on activities around forces, sound and light.
We finished the afternoon off in the Space Gallery. We explored the space-craft, space-suits and other items to discover that when re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere, capsules need special coating to withstand the immense heat created when it hits the thicker air because of friction. We discovered why astronauts need specially designed cooling systems in their underwear, and what happens if their suits get ripped. Did you know that after 15 seconds in Space without your suit, you’d be unconscious? We learnt about Helen Sharman, (the first British astronaut) and of course more about the Moon landings and the Apollo missions.
The day was over all too quickly though, and after a quick (and we mean quick) trek across the Underground, we were safely on board the 16:08 to Ipswich and on the way to tell our families all about our amazing day in London.
By Imogen and Ellie
