Year 5 trip to London

Year 5 had an amazing experience on our trip to London and the Houses of Parliament.  We began the day at 6:30 am, taking a coach to Piccadilly Train Station where we were met by Virgin Train representatives, who took us safely to our seats and provided us with complimentary drinks and snack boxes.  After a 2 hour train journey we arrived at Euston Station in London.

 

From here, we were able to travel by tube to Westminster.  This went really well, and was just like travelling on a tram in Manchester, except that it was underground.  When we stepped out of the tube station, we saw the awe-inspiring Big Ben and Houses of Parliament.

 

Going around Parliament was the highlight of our day.  We entered by going past the Sovereign’s gate, where The Queen enters for the State opening of Parliament, before going into the robing room which is her private room when she arrives.  Even BBC cameras aren’t allowed to film in there. 

 

Next we entered the beautiful House of Lords, with red leather benches (we weren’t allowed to sit down as we aren’t Lords!) and an exquisite gold throne at one end, from where the Queen will read her speech to Parliament next month.

 

After that, we went into the House of Commons, where we saw the benches where Prime Minister David Cameron and his cabinet sit (we weren’t allowed to sit down as we aren’t MP’s!).   We also saw where the Speaker sat, and learned about how MP’s get to listen and vote on things that will affect our daily lives.

 

Finally, we saw Westminster Hall, the oldest part of the building, and the place where King Charles I and Guy Fawkes were put on trial.  We have learned a lot about the Stuarts in History, and lots of people at Parliament commented on how well behaved and knowledgeable we were!

 

After lunch we took a nice stroll through St. James’ Park to Buckingham Palace.  It was incredible to see the home of Queen Elizabeth II and the soldiers standing on guard outside.  We saw her balcony and people were busy working inside.  After taking everything in and having a group photograph, we went on to the beautiful Hyde Park, where we enjoyed an ice cream and had a chat with a horse-mounted Police Woman about her horse.

 

A great day was enjoyed by all.  We learned so much about how our country is run and got to see first hand a lot of the things that we had learned about in class.