Field Day Autumn 2023

This week students took part in a variety of off-timetable activities for our termly Field Day, a chance to have experiences outside of the normal school day. 

Many academic departments took large groups of students on trips to London and beyond to benefit from new perspectives and learning outside of the classroom. 

• The JBugs travelled to a First World War trench reconstruction site near Maidstone in Kent, which was used for training during WWI, and is run now by a team of experts in military history. 
• First Years travelled by coach to the Globe Theatre, where they had a tour of the historic building and participated in a series of Drama workshops. They then continued along the South bank, taking in iconic landmarks along the way and stopping at the Golden Hinde. 
• Second Years had a tour of Croydon Mosque with Imam Inaan and Father Andrew led the tour at the Croydon Minster, to bring to life the Religious Studies curriculum. Students then headed back to school for an afternoon workshop on Buddhism.  
• A Level Art students visited the Tate Modern and the Tate Britain in one day, soaking up lots of inspiration to bring back to the Art Studios. 

Field Day is also a great opportunity for Personal Development and we had many students involved in those: 

• Our Third Years were in school taking part in a workshop to explore stereotypes and what masculinity means to them with our external partners Beyond Equality. 
• Lower Sixth students had a full day of Leadership and Teamwork building workshops. 
• Our CCF students were involved in developing field skills with Army cadets on a night exercise, Navy cadets enjoying water sports on the Thames and the RAF cadets enjoyed a trip to the RAF Museum in Hendon to learn more about aircraft and the development of the RAF 

As well as trips, an important part of Field Day is having the opportunity to give back to the local community. This Field Day, we had 180 students volunteering across 20 different community placements for the day, totalling over 700 hours’ worth of donated time.  

Some of the placements included sorting Harvest donations at The Vine food bank, assisting with activities for blind and partially sighted people at Croydon Vision, looking after the small animals at Foal Farm, playing music for older people at The Almshouses and Whitgift House (with a game of croquet against the residents afterwards too!), clearing ground at Good Food Matters community garden, assisting with a youth engagement programme at Stanley Arts, as well as helping out a number of local primary schools as well as running activities for primary school children at Trinity. 

A student described their experience at Croydon Vision: “The experience was very eye-opening, and the people were very welcoming. We learned all about the many medical disorders that visually impaired people face. We helped the group with quizzes and served them tea and coffee. It was very nice talking to the elderly people there who all had their own individual experiences and lives, they were all very nice and willing to tell us about themselves.”   

A group of students also rolled their sleeves up and set to work in the Trinity Community Garden. Mrs Prestney said, “The boys below did an astonishing job. They helped felt the shed roof, dig up paving slabs found deep in the soil and use them to lay a new path, clear lots of land of weeds and brambles for a new veg patch, dig up trenches to help make bed edging out of old decking boards and insulate the shed. We worked them all very hard and I’m enormously grateful for their efforts!” 

Well done to all students for embracing Field Day activities!