Sixth Form lead the life of bon viveurs in Paris

I had been to France before but I had never been to Paris. It was a very new experience for me. Paris was definitely one of the most beautiful cities I have ever visited. The view from the Trocadero was one of the most breathtakingly stunning moments not just for me but for everybody. The shocked gasp that we all gave in sync told it all.

We left on Monday morning an early start for all of us arriving in school for 6:00am. The journey on the Eurostar was smooth and we arrived in no time. The search for the hotel was funny because we went in the completely wrong direction to where it was but luckily we corrected ourselves and checked into the Vintage Hostel, which was only a 5 minute walk from the Gare du Nord.

After putting our luggage away we started the sightseeing. The first sight we visited was the Louvre. This had to be one of my favourite moments. There were so many movies that I associated with this Art Gallery making it even more spectacular for me. After touring round the Louvre, visiting the famed Mona Lisa, we made our way to Notre Dame, making sure to taste a few crepes and macaroons along the way.

The second day was the one that possibly we had all been waiting for. The Eiffel Tower and shopping! We walked down to the Eiffel Tower after taking group photos in front of it. We then went on a boat trip taking in all the monuments. Then came the moment we had all been waiting for McDonalds and shopping on the Champs Elysee! After shopping on this street I believe no other street, Oxford Street nor can 5th Avenue compare. I could not have felt more glamorous.

I must say the food in Paris is exquisite satisfying all taste buds. The restaurants and café’s we ate at were dear and perfect, and on the last day we made sure to stuff as many crepe’s into our mouths as possible! But that is not all. We walked to the Sacre Coeur which you could either walk or take the lift to get up to the top. The inside of it was definitely beautiful and I gave myself something to remember it by buying a ring from the gift shop. Montmartre was a quaint little town where we could buy souvenirs for the family and little gifts for ourselves.

I appreciate the school’s effort to give us a cultural experience such as this and I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I encourage other girls to take this opportunity if they have the chance to. It opens your eyes into a new part of the world.

D’Nelle Shambler (Year 12)

Sixth Form visit Design Museum

On 27^th June, Year 12 girls took a trip to the Design Museum in London as part of their post-AS Activities Week.  After a gentle stroll along the Thames, passing HMS Belfast, Tower Bridge and the Shard, we were able to look at cutting edge design from around the world.  For example, the entries in the ‘Designs of the Year 2013’ competition included a ketchup bottle with a non-stick coating to make pouring easier (we have squeezy containers now anyway!), to the Olympic Cauldron, to adjustable prescription glasses for poor countries.

Even odder was the ‘UK Micro Kingdoms’ exhibition, where the UK is divided into four, and presumably you live in the region that most suits your lifestyle.  So, if you want all the power you could ever use free, then you would have to live on a train that is constantly on the move.  It has to keep moving because it has an on-board nuclear power station and most people do not want to live near one for long.

The main strength of the Design Museum, I think, is that it asks you to think about everyday life in an unusual way and that it asks you to look again at objects that are so familiar to us that we do not necessarily appreciate the excellence of their design.  One such example might be the UK system of road signage, to which a corner of the museum was dedicated.  The problem is that they will all become museum pieces once we are all been transported in self-driving vehicles, which know their way around.

L Casey (Sixth Form tutor)