On Monday 29th September, Year 3 went to Fisbourne Palace in Chichester. We saw a model of the palace before it burnt down. It had four wings but only the east wing is left today. We went into one of the rooms where we could write our names in roman writing.
Some of my class made mosaics in a frame of sand. I saw a model of the gardener who told us how hard it was in the olden days. His face scared me!
After we had a picnic lunch, we went to the shop and I bought a red, twirly, whirly cup and a dolphin necklace.
After the visit we went back to school on the minibus. It was a great day!

Year 5 went on a walk to Alton High Street. There were five groups, each one with a teacher and we got into pairs with the people in our group.

Once we got there, we dropped off a group at a time until we were scattered around the High Street in our groups. Each pair got a clip board with tally charts and questionnaires on it. We counted what type of vehicles we saw in five minutes ad were very surprised by how many bikes there were. We also interviews young men and women from Alton College and got some interesting answers from them about the traffic and how it is controlled in the area. We looked at that as well.

On the 7th of July 2008 the IV year Law group were taken to the Winchester Crown Court to witness some court cases. The four girls, Harriet, Caitlin, Alice and I, Jessica, were accompanied by Mr. Carpenter and Mrs. Charles. We left Alton Convent school promptly at 9 'o'clock and after stopping for a quick drink and a briefing about the background of the cases, we hurried into the public viewing area and took our seats. Not long after sitting down, we had to rise again for the judge who now entered the court.

We were greeted by smiley staff in bright red T-shirts. We knew this was going to be a great day. We went in through barns of horses, chicks, pigs and a herd of alpacas to name a few and then saw the huge selection of activities in the grounds.
There were set show times that we didn’t want to miss and lots of supervised activities for the very adventurous or those requiring a more gentle experience.
Tovi and Thomas went on the stage to feed the sheep and Daisy the cow ate lots of oranges… and wouldn’t leave the stage without being given yet another orange!
Bug ride zoomed around the park and you really had to hold on to your hats, well actually the steering wheel, we were soaked by pirates shooting water at us!
Crazy golf was a challenge with the hidden bumps and curves and a variety of styles were observed to get a hole in one, from gentle swings of the club to a little helping hand or foot to secure success!
Bumper boats caused a splash and an excuse to bump in to a friend.
‘Land ahoy’ as Reception climbed aboard the big ship which was standing room only!
Lunch in our very own covered picnic area was a real treat and lots of birds followed us.
Spider towers, tractor rides and a great wooden adventure area left the children just wanting more.
We ended the afternoon with ice-lollies and we thanked the staff at the farm for their kind attention. They told us it had been a pleasure to have Alton Convent School visit for the day as all the children were very polite and well behaved. What a great day!

Year 4 spent a brilliant day at Hampton Court Palace on Wednesday as part of their study of the Tudors. Despite the weather the class's first impressions of the palace were very positive, with many overwhelmed by the scale of this great Tudor building. We were met at the Buttery stairs by the mistress of the wardrobe, who regaled us with insider gossip of the King and his many marriages as we sat entranced in the wine cellar, before taking us up to explore the Great Hall itself, with its magnificent tapestries and stained glass. After a hasty lunch in the Buttery, we spent a while longer studying heraldic devices, carvings, glass and portraits in the state apartments before making our way into the Chapel Royal, which provided an interesting opportunity for comparisons and contrasts with our own chapel. We quickly toured the Young Henry exhibition in Wolsey's apartments, playing 'Where's Harry' with a number of epic paintings. For many, the highlight of the day was the multi-sensory tour of the palace kitchens with Hampton Court's two wonderfully entertaining and informative food historians. The whole day provided a wonderful opportunity to really enhance the children's understanding of the age of Henry VIII. Parents may be interested to know that the Palace has a very full programme of events both this and the next bank holiday weekend.

On Thursday 17th April the lower sixth geographers visited Guildford with Salesian College in order to define the boundary of the Central Business District and to determine whether Guildford fitted the standard model of core and frame areas.

The five girls and the boys from Salesian formed groups of twos and threes and each group took a different route. We investigated building height and age of building as well as the cleanliness and appearance of different sites along our route. We counted the numbers of pedestrians and cars in order to establish whether particular spots were busy or quiet. In addition each group were given particular areas to investigate the land use, some were primarily shops and others offices. It was then up to each individual group to describe where they felt the Central Business District of Guildford ended. At the end of the day, back at Salesian we each presented our findings and discussed what we had all found.

When we walked in to class after lunch on Thursday we were in for a shock: a lady dressed in 1940’s clothes was standing there! It turned out to be Mrs Denby, she was here to tell us about war time and the 1940’s. She had also brought a lot of objects from the time as well. I found out that girls would go a long way to look good.
She went on to talk about jobs during the war and how everything changed. It was really interesting learning about war time with Mrs Denby and at the end we got to try out some of the arefacts

Taking our seats in the Headquarters of the UN in New York was surreal. Being surrounded by the sandy brown paneling and microphones that light up when you talk only heightened the experience.

Peter Luff introduced an afternoon filled with speakers to debate the Security Council's use of the veto. Initially, we heard the history and possible future of the UN from the Indian UN representative, giving a necessary background to the veto and its initial purpose was. After this, there was an opportunity to ask questions, many of which broadened the topic discussed and made valid points. Questions of the UN's assistance in Zimbabwe and its stance on the Iraq war were asked.

Day One

After solving the problem of fitting 11 bags into the minibus, we traveled for 3½ hours to Wales. Our first stop was Rhondda Valley Heritage Park. The old colliery, which first opened in 1870, has now been converted into an industrial museum. We started, after meeting our very Welsh guide, Howard, by tracking two families lives and how the coalmine had effected them. This gave an insight to life in the coalmines and a glimpse at their history. We were then taken down, or so we thought, into the coal mining tunnels. We learnt how the coal seams were blown apart, in order to be mined out, with a life like re-enactment, and the system they used to extract coal from each seam. We then simulated a ride back up to the surface, only to find ourselves at the surface the whole time; we hadn't been below ground at all!