School Trips

The College’s Jewish journeys deepen pupils’ understanding of their roots and of the situation of  our people in the contemporary world. This is especially true of the Israel Trip in Year 9 and the Poland Trip in the Lower Sixth. However, trips to York in Year 7 and Madrid and Strasbourg in Year 10 also extend pupils’ knowledge of Jewry past and present. Pupils forge strong bonds of friendship during the trips, and their respect for one another grows as a result of sharing the experience of living an observant Jewish life.

Year 7 York Trip

One of the most important events in the calendar for Year 7 is the residential trip to York, which takes place for all pupils in the summer term.

One of the purposes of the trip is to help pupils bond and strengthen their friendship as a year group, as well as to enjoy learning in various activities beyond the classroom;  but the most important reason for going to York is to share in the commemoration of a key event in the history of English Jewry, the massacre of the Jewish community in York in the year 1190.

The site, which is now owned by English Heritage, is opened privately for our school to do this every year; the service has thus become an annual event for the Immanuel College community, as represented by our youngest pupils, who gather to pray and remember the brave resistance of the Jewish families of York who refused to be forcibly converted to Christianity at the hands of a mob.

This event is studied by our pupils as part of their History curriculum. It is taught in the context of Jewish life in Medieval England, of the pressures unleashed by the Crusades and the institutional power of the Christian church upon society as a whole in the Middle Ages.

It provides an opportunity for cross-curricular links with the Jewish Studies department and the pastoral work of the school by raising the issue of Jewish identity and community cohesion in earlier times as well as in the modern world.

The York trip is also a time for having fun and recreation , with activities such as ten-pin bowling and visits to York’s tourist attractions, such as the famous Jorvik Viking ride, the York dungeon (not for the faint-hearted!), the medieval wall walk, which is a fitness challenge in itself and the magnificent railway museum, among many other places of interest.

Year 8 Paris Trip

The Year 8 Trip to Paris is an annual, cross-curricular event designed to introduce pupils to the sights and culture of this unique city. Among the famous monuments we visit on in the course of a six-mile hike around the centre of Paris on the first day of the trip are the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Pompidou Centre, the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe. The day culminates in the ascent of the Eiffel Tower.

On their second day the pupils visit Disneyland Paris, where they see at first hand the implementation of the principles of tourism planning that they have learnt about in geography lessons. Before beginning the journey home on the final day, pupils tour the Stade de France. On the journey out to Paris, the pupils’ understanding of modern European history will be enriched by their visit the Somme battlefield memorial at Thiépval.

During the four day trip, pupils are accommodated in a hotel and are fed by a leading Paris kosher caterer.

Year 10 Madrid Trip

The annual GCSE exchange trip to Madrid takes place during the second or third term, in conjunction with our exchange school, the Centro Ibn Gabirol, Madrid’s only Jewish secondary school. This is a residential, 5-day trip with pupils staying with Spanish families from the school in the evenings and undertaking a daily programme of excursions throughout Madrid. Pupils complete a journal at the end of each day and are encouraged to use as much Spanish as possible when with their Spanish families. As well as serving a linguistic purpose, the trip also increases pupils’ social and cultural awareness of Spain. At some stage before or after our visit to Madrid, a group from the Spanish school comes to England to stay with Immanuel College host families.

Typical daily excursions in Madrid include:

-          walking tour of the centre of Madrid;
-          visit of the Palacio Real;
-          half-day trip to Toledo;
-          visit of the Santiago Bernabéu football stadium;
-          tour of Las Ventas bull ring;
-          visits to art galleries El Prado and Centro de Arte Reina Sofía.

Lower Sixth Poland Trip

The Lower Sixth Poland Trip is a ten-day educational journey. At the end of the winter term, students stay in Krakow, Lublin and Warsaw to study 1000 years of Jewish history By understanding what Jewry achieved in Poland during this time, our students better appreciate what was lost.

The trip challenges students to draw upon their educational and life experiences as they consider the profound religious issues it raises. The trip plays a significant part in developing our students’ sense of Jewish responsibility and it has a unique impact on the quality of their relationships with one another.

Each January on Holocaust Memorial Day, these students share the knowledge and insights they have gained on their trip to Poland the previous month with pupils in the first five years of the school.

GCSE Strasbourg Trip

The highlight of the GCSE course is a five-day educational, cultural and social visit in Year 10 to the French city of Strasbourg. During this visit students stay in orthodox Jewish homes on a full-board basis, thereby discovering the delights of French family life and of kosher cuisine. Among the activities undertaken are a tour of Strasbourg by the canal, a visit to the concentration camp of Natzviller-Struthof, a look at the new European Parliament building and, on a lighter note, an evening of fun at the bowling alley.