Trips

Pen-y-Fan, Brecon Beacons

This trip was designed to help students understand our glacial landscape. And, of course, crucial in enabling the Upper Sixth to pronounce Llyn Cwm Llwch! Thank you to Ms Sumner and Mr Mitchell who were our mountain leaders on the day.

Jonathan Hughes

Photography Walking Tour of Bristol

This year the A Level Photography students were able to stretch their legs on a walking tour around Bristol. Conveniently, a number of galleries and venues in the city were hosting the Bristol Photo Festival and it was a perfect opportunity to see some projects by local photographers as well as an exhibition in Bristol Museum of work by photographers including Martin Parr, Sarah Waiswa, James Barnor and Sian Davey. Along with visiting a variety of different exhibitions, the Year 13 students were able to begin exploring their own project themes in Castle Park and the city centre and the Year 12 students experimented with camera techniques and controls, getting to grips with depth of field, viewpoints and shutter speeds. Though not always apparent at the time, this trip influenced a number of students and all have gone on to produce some stunning work this year.

Paul Wigginton

The Beat of Our Hearts at the Northcott Theatre

In the Lent Term our Year 12 and 13 drama students visited Exeter’s Northcott to see The Beat of Our Hearts. This new play is a tender and poignant exploration of loneliness and belonging, a unique theatrical celebration of unheard voices and previously untold stories of LGBTQIA+ people, from South West-based playwright Natalie McGrath. Our students especially loved the passionate performances, inventive staging and the lyrical, poetic text used by the actors in their performance of the piece.

David Saunders

A Monster Calls at Bristol Old Vic

In the Summer Term the Drama Department ran a trip to the Bristol Old Vic to see the returning production of A Monster Calls. Patrick Ness’ piercing novel is brought vividly to life in this Olivier Award-winning production by visionary director Sally Cookson. A Monster Calls offers a dazzling insight into love, life and healing. The students enjoyed the emotional story of self-forgiveness and acceptance with the startling performances and beautiful visuals really making an impact with our Year 9 scholars, GCSE and A Level groups.

David Saunders

Bristol Aerospace

On 18th March, the A Level physicists visited Aerospace Bristol in Filton. As part of the trip, pupils engaged in a ‘Light Fantastic’ workshop during which they were able to make their own spectrometers, which could be used to analyse light. Such techniques are necessary to learn about the composition of stars and discover more about our amazing universe. Pupils also had the opportunity to look around the museum at their leisure, which included a tour of the famous Concorde aircraft!

Rebecca Luker

STEM Club Trip to Bristol University Wind Tunnels

On 6th June, a small group of Lower Sixth STEM Club students went to the University of Bristol’s Engineering Department to use their wind tunnel. The aim was to see how air flowed over a model F1 car design. The team created two car models to test and used a stream of smoke to identify any vortices in the airflow along the car bodies. The students are entering the ‘F1 into Schools’ regional competition and hope to get through to the national finals given all of their hard work so far. Pupils also have to create business and design portfolios to show the judges and, as part of this challenge, they’ve secured funding from local companies and have had to get their heads around some rather complex computer software! Whilst the pupils were at the university, the rest of the physicists had the chance to observe a larger wind tunnel in action with a few PhD students looking at an aerofoil project to reduce noise and make flight more efficient. They also entered two room-sized wind tunnels which absorb as much sound as possible, used for testing noise emission from wings and rotary blades. The pupils had a great time and loved seeing what life after school could be like for them!

Rebecca Luker