Brentwoodian 2019

94 From the 12th to the 14th June we were lucky enough to be able to participate in the trip to Leiston Abbey, an academic enrichment trip to allow us to gain insight into topics we may not be taught at school. For example: on the first night Mr Jukes told us all about astrophysics. Our task was to name our groups after constellations and introduce two of our aliens (in the shape of eggs) that come from our constellations. The groups were: Lynx, Draco Alpha, Draco Beta and Auriga. Our goal for the end of the trip was to gain as many points as possible as a team. We were able to gain points by participating and helping the teachers. By the end of the three-day trip, we were to return our “aliens” in one piece in order to gain more points. The results were: Draco Alpha in first place, followed by Lynx, Auriga and finally Draco Beta. We were also able to gain points from our chosen creative subject which was out of art, music or drama. There were so many topics that were spread over the three days that it was amazing to be able to do so much in so few days. It was so entertaining to work with people that we wouldn’t have necessarily been able to work with at school, especially doing topics that we would never have expected and learning so many new things such as Formal Language theory from Dr Bourne, or the Romanticism period from Miss Tiernen; we found out that in this period, it was not necessarily about amorous love. We were even given a talk about the philosophy of “evil” from Mr Clements, really pushing our knowledge on the subject and making us think: “is evil about the action or the thought?” Then he gave an amazing talk about ethics which really challenged our thinking. One of my favourite challenges was the Linguistics challenge when we were given languages that don’t use the Latin alphabet but a language you are unlikely to know. We really had to work as a team to win this challenge, further enhancing our communication skills, but what was truly thought- provoking was when we were given an insight to our future from Mr Bowley. This really made us think about life after school, which may seem scary but it is inevitable. We were so lucky to be able to return to Leiston Abbey after attending the programme in the Leiston Abbey Second Year; we had so much fun that we wanted to come back! It has been one of the best experiences I have had at this School and it was incredibly interesting as well as entertaining. Hopefully, everyone else is able to have as much fun and make as many memories as we had in Leiston Abbey as it is such a historically unique place for us. Mrs Sharpe helped us understand the history of the Abbey when it was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1536. We walked around it and discussed the effect the dissolution would have had on the local people and the reasons why it occurred. It truly is fascinating to think that hundreds of years ago, the Abbey was made as a place of healing that probably helped thousands of people. Thank you to all the teachers who were able to help us in these last two years; it wouldn’t have been the same trip without them. A special thank you to Mrs Sharpe who organised this trip, always wanting us to further extend our knowledge not in the confinement of what we are taught but wanting us to stretch our brains, as well as always encouraging us to take part in academic enrichment activities. Thank you! By Sabrina Lee