London school trip case study

Hannah Gill, Music Teacher, Kirkcudbright Academy School

"The London school trip is aimed to be a fun, cultural, cross-curricular tour. The school is in a rural area of Scotland, so going to a city like London gives students a completely different experience. We aim for it to be a bonding time and an opportunity to increase confidence and independence. We travel in November as it is a quiet time of year in the school calendar.

The three West End shows we took in were a highlight and it is such an experience for students to see a high quality, professional production. This year ‘Matilda’ was absolutely brilliant and it was inspiring to see so many children in the cast.

The pupils loved the Harry Potter Studio Tour and it was really interesting to see what goes into making a film. It’s also a great, safe environment for pupils to wander at their own speed, with plenty to see and do.

We only spent a couple of hours in the Science Museum, but we could have spent so much more. Again another safe environment to give students some freedom. There is so much to see and do and it’s free!

Instead of eating in the hostel, all our evening meals were in London restaurants, a fun part of the itinerary. All the meals were pre-booked and the restaurants Voyager recommended were always welcoming and accommodating.

The London Eye was definitely a highlight this year. Because we did it in the evening and it was around Bonfire Night, the London sky was full of fireworks.

Finally, the group visited the BBC Studios in Manchester on the journey home. This worked extremely well as it broke up the long journey and gave purpose to the last day. The tour was a brilliant learning experience covering Music, Drama, Media and Technology. Highlights were sitting on the BBC Breakfast sofa reading the news and giving a weather report.

Hard to pick a highlight of the trip because everything was so brilliant!"