Year 13 Hardy Trip
recital drifting up through floorboards. The class had set up an impromptu reading of Hardy’s poetry with the brave reader sitting in a large wooden chair by the roaring fire and the class huddled round for warmth. It was simply divine, and Mr McCarthy blessed us all with his beautiful lyrical readings – if you have been taught by him you will know what I mean. I couldn’t resist and had to read the opening chapter of The Mayor of Casterbridge, apt after our lunch at the Dorchester Arms where the main character of this classic ‘lived’.
Imagine this: A damp, drizzly and cold October afternoon. A short hike up a muddy path through woods. Thick smoke billowing from the chimney of a chocolate-box cottage. Being welcomed into a smoke-filled room by a bearded Hardy expert who sits warming his hands by the roaring fire. Sit. Sit. Let me tell you all about Thomas Hardy … It has taken me nearly 13 years to get here and I am, at last, teaching Hardy. I promised to myself when I started teaching many moons ago that Hardy would be at the top of my list. For whatever reason, it has taken all this time to finally facilitate the love of this great novelist into the next generation of Literature students. Hardy wrote Tess of the D’Urbervilles (our set text) at Max Gate in Dorchester. A visit here was a must, especially as the house was only opened to the public this year. Standing in the room where he wrote this great novel was a bit odd. It is not a remarkable space and the view is similarly disappointing. How on earth did he find inspiration? It is not hard to answer this question when one travels a few miles out of Dorchester to Hardy’s birthplace where we were warmly greeted by the bearded Hardy expert. Surrounded by rolling hills, tucked into what Hardy would surely call the ‘bosom of the countryside’, the cottage is much as it was when he lived there. Surely this is where he drew his inspiration.
‘Whilst I was exploring the upstairs rooms, the house silent being deserted of al other visitors, I unexpectedly heard poetry recital drifting up through floorboards.’ The tales of death, disease, tragedy love, community and family recounted by our guide set the foundations for the tragic tale of Tess. Pupils then had the opportunity to explore the house alone, climbing almost vertical stairs and sitting at window seats to admire the beautiful country garden outside. Whilst I was exploring the upstairs rooms, the house silent, being deserted of all other visitors, I unexpectedly heard poetry
Year 12 Parliament Trip
‘We were surprised when led into the smallest of the three courtrooms because, to our consternation, it highly resembled a venue for a PGSMUN conference because of the assortment of flags that were on display identical to the ones used by the MUN.’ On Monday 12th of November, the entire cohort of Year 12 Government and Politics students plus a couple of hangers-on from History zipped to London and back by coach to visit the Palace of Westminster and the UK Supreme Court. Arriving fashionably early, we took a brief stroll down Whitehall past everyone’s favourite branch of government, HM Revenue and Customs, to gaze through the iron bars and fiercely armed police officers at the most iconic door in the world, No. 10 Downing Street. After this we had 35 minutes’ free time in which some continued walking to admire Horse Guards Parade, the Cenotaph and Trafalgar Square while others were thoroughly disturbed by disconcerting men selling souvenirs and accosted by tourists
who flung their smart phones into the hands of strangers saying “Picture! Picture!” After this brief interlude, we were ushered through the airportlike security and into Westminster Hall, the oldest part of the Palace of Westminster and the venue of many prestigious events including receptions for foreign dignitaries such as Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela (twice) and a Pope. Our guide then led us promptly through the Royal Gallery, with the frescos of the Battle of Trafalgar and the Battle of Waterloo that have notoriously left a bitter taste in the mouth of visiting French dignitaries in the years since. We were then shown the ornately adorned chamber of the House of Lords, with the Woolsack on which the speaker sits,
It was a wrench leaving the cottage and the pupils were sad to stop the readings but Dorchester traffic awaited us, as well as my terrible map-reading skills. We made our way to Stinsford Church, where Hardy’s heart is buried. If you read Claire Tomalin’s excellent Thomas Hardy: the Time-Torn Man, you can read all about the controversy surrounding Hardy’s burial, which led to his heart residing in a different place from his body. Whilst visiting, a local man stopped us to tell us the grisly history and that the local myth is that Hardy’s heart never actually made it to the grave because it was eaten by the vicar’s cat … And on that note, we headed back to PGS after a very enjoyable trip! Many thanks must go to Mrs Mitchell, who was our outstandingly calm driver (apologies again for getting us lost), to Mr McCarthy for always inspiring us with knowledge, and to my fabulous class who made this trip worth waiting 13 years for.
Bryony Hart which was described succinctly as a “glorified beanbag” by a child in one of the other groups. We then visited the House of Commons chamber where, we discovered, copies of not only the Bible but the Qur’an, the Talmud, oath cards for the non religious and assorted other Holy texts for new MPs to swear their allegiance to the crown on are kept. We were then led to (incidentally) the largest committee room in the Palace of Westminster for our quick-fire Q&A with Bob Russell, Liberal Democrat MP for Colchester. Then we were whisked off to the UK Supreme Court where we were given an interesting talk on the function and activities of the Supreme Court. We were surprised when led into the smallest of the three courtrooms because, to our consternation, it highly resembled a venue for a PGSMUN conference because of the assortment of flags that were on display identical to the ones used by the MUN which we discovered were the flags of the 27 commonwealth countries, overseas British territories and crown dependencies that have kept the UK supreme court as their highest court of appeal. After discovering that there weren’t enough seats for us to go in and sit in the public galleries of the two cases that were being heard at the time, and being put off by the overly sombre mood of the proceedings pointed out by Mr. Gallop, we headed out and back to our coach for the journey back to PGS. No more than a few minutes after Mr. Gallop requested we respect the ambience of the luxury Lucketts coach, William Wallace stole the limelight by thinking it was a good idea to eat yoghurt on a bus in London traffic and promptly ended up with yoghurt splashed in very unfortunate places. Thankfully this turned out to be the only mishap of the trip. This was a trip that, although brief, provided a fascinating insight into the world of government, an insight relevant not only to our course but to our national identity.
Lessons from Auschwitz On the 18th October Dan Breen and I arrived in Poland for our day visit to Auschwitz as part of the Lessons from Auschwitz project run by the Holocaust Educational Trust. We had attended an orientation seminar before the trip where we were honoured to hear from a Holocaust survivor and reflected on why it is important to learn about the history of the Holocaust. I knew before I arrived in Poland that visiting Auschwitz 1 and Auschwitz-Birkenau, the purpose built extermination camp, would be emotionally challenging. However nothing can prepare you for the experience of actually visiting the camps yourself. When you consider that 1.5 million people died at Auschwitz alone it is easy to get lost behind the vast numbers; statistics are impersonal, and it is too easy to overlook the fact that behind the death tolls are millions of individuals with lives, friends, and families of their own. Visiting the camp came with an awareness that all of the victims were human beings just like you and me. It must also be remembered that the perpetrators were also human beings, and during our follow-up seminar this was one of the many issues we considered. The Holocaust was an extremely complex series of events, and it is impossible to label all of those involved as ‘evil’ – it is likely that many of the perpetrators were just products of the society they lived in. That led us to think about the contemporary relevance of the Holocaust; how we should endeavour to challenge acts of prejudice and discrimination. My experience on the Lessons from Auschwitz project was not one that can be easily conveyed through words. I would encourage anybody to take part in the project, because although it certainly wasn’t easy, the lessons that I learned through the project were invaluable and something that cannot be taught in a classroom.
Grace Gawn
‘I knew before I arrived in Poland that visiting Auschwitz 1 and Auschwitz-Birkenau, the purpose built extermination camp, would be emotionally challenging. However nothing can prepare you for the experience of actually visiting the camps yourself.’
Josh Rampton
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