Head's Newsletter 14 July 2017

Year 10 Trip to Berlin 2017

At the crack of dawn on Thursday June 22nd 2017 the History Department took 50 Year 10 pupils to Berlin to teach them about Weimar and Nazi Germany and the Cold War, all of which are taught in their new GCSE. Having arrived after a smooth journey and checked into the hotel in the Mitte district of Berlin, the group made its way to Heckershermarkt in the centre to meet two tour guides. Each group of 25 was then taken on an enriching and very enjoyable walking tour of the city, taking in sites such as Rosenstrasse, where one of the few successful protests took place against the Nazi regime, Hitler’s World War Two bunker and the Holocaust Memorial to the East of the Brandenburg Gate.

Cup; and Cecilienhof Palace in Potsdam where the German Kaisers resided and where negotiations took place after the Second World War in 1945. This was a varied and absorbing day, which gave the pupils a full view of their GCSE, both for their Germany depth study and their study of the Cold War. Our third and final day was back in central Berlin and involved a visit to the Reichstag, where we climbed the renovated dome, a visit to Checkpoint Charlie, home of numerous standoffs between Russian and American forces after the division of Berlin, a visit to the Topography of Terror, a Museum about the Nazis’ SS and Gestapo forces and a visit to Berlin’s huge shopping mall. Pupils and staff were incredibly moved and fulfilled by the whole trip. It has acted as both an educational stimulus and a clear lesson to all on morality and the value of the lives that we live, and was greatly enjoyed by all.

Both pupils and teachers were incredibly tired after this tour but everyone learned a lot; a leisurely night at the hotel was welcome for all before another intense day on Friday. On this day, the group were escorted out of the city by coach all day, taking in more fascinating sites. These included the Sachsenhausen Concentration camp, 35 miles out of the city, where Mr Bryan- Williams gave a set of talks about Nazi persecution there from 1936; the Berlin Olympic Stadium, originally constructed by the Nazis for the 1936 Olympics and also home to the 2006 World