A group of 52 Year 8 pupils and 6 staff travelled to London last week, combining computing and commerce with a hint of magic. They set off on Friday morning, stopping off at the Warner Brothers Harry Potter studios on the way to the capital. There, they enjoyed a lesson which gave them an insight into the making of the Harry Potter film franchise and offered the chance to look at props and scenery which is not on display to the public. After this, they took a tour of the studios, visiting the sets from the Harry Potter films and enjoying a Butterbeer.
They continued their journey into London, where they visited the National History Museum and took a walking tour of Canary Wharf, discovering more about the history and economic significance of this important financial district, as well as looking at some of the artwork and architecture in the area.
In the evening, they defied gravity with a visit to the Apollo Victoria theatre to see smash hit musical Wicked. This provided a great opportunity to compare the stage production of the award winning musical to the recent film adaptation, which was nominated for four Golden Globe awards.
On the way back to Leeds, they called at Bletchley Park, where they saw the Turing-Welchman Bombe (the electro-mechanical device which was developed to crack the Enigma code during the Second World War) and the Colossus (the world’s first computer, which was designed to decipher the Lorenz cipher and decode messages between Adolf Hitler and his generals). They also got the chance to see how computing and technology have changed over recent years.
A huge thank you to the staff who gave up their time to make this such an enjoyable and memorable trip for the students; and well done to the pupils who represented our school so well.
