On Wednesday 5th July, year 5 went to the Tower of London as part of their thematic topic on Crime and Punishment. Arriving at London Bridge Station, we took in the Shard, Hays Galleria, HMS Belfast and City Hall before crossing Tower Bridge and making our way to the the Tower itself. Wristbands on, we entered the tower and headed straight for the Crown Jewels. Eagle eyed observers noticed all the new CR III signage about the place – a change from the ER II from previous visits and many of the children reflected on having watched the coronation last year. The White Tower was another impressive part of our journey. The oldest part of the complex, it housed a range of weaponry and armour from the time of King Henry VIII – some of us remembering our work on The Tudors in year 2. For lunch – for some reason always the most exciting time of any trip – we were lucky to avoid the famous Tower of London Ravens scavenging any of our food before moving onto the main part of our visit. We were lucky to take part in a workshop where Lady Jane Grey’s sister (role played, at least) took us through a history of the Tower as a prison including stories about many of the most famous prisoners that were held there, including herself, her sister and the daring and ingenious escape of Catholics John Arden and John Gerard. We even saw some primary historical evidence – 400 year old graffiti scratchings in the rather impressive prison cells. A trip to the gift shop and a fast paced walk back along the embankment and over London Bridge completed a fantastic and memorable day out.
