History Students Hampton Court Trip

On Thursday 23 November the entire 4s year group and the History sixth formers travelled to Hampton Court Palace. The weather, which although cold, was bright and sunny, allowing the students to see the palace in its full glory.

Francesca (4s) recounts the day.

“We split into our groups and went to look around different areas of the palace. This was very interesting because we saw lots of parts of the palace and lots of things in it were different depending upon which Monarch had built that part. My favourite part of the tour was when I recognised a few of the portraits we had studied in class, and I got very excited because I knew them, and I was finally seeing them in person.

We all met up for lunch and then after lunch sat in the main courtyard of the palace. We then gathered the entire year group together and did a guided workshop with someone who worked there. It was very interesting because we talked a lot about not judging a book by its cover and looking deeper into the detail of the portraits, such as where they would have got the first pearls, what was happening in the portraits to show different meanings, and what happened when the Tudors were kicked out of the Catholic Church by the Pope and none of the European Catholic countries would trade with them.

We investigated what Elizabeth I did to resolve this and how she then turned to the Islamic world to trade and form alliances so that England was allied with someone. It was a very fun trip and I enjoyed it a lot. I learned a lot of new things and found it very fascinating.”

The sixth form students were able to take part in a workshop to complement their studies which included examining primary sources provided by Hampton Court Palace and involved some dramatic re-enacting of events during the Mid- Tudor Crisis. The afternoon was finished off with a walk around the stunning Hampton Court gardens before heading back to school.