Windsor Castle 12.5.17

We had a fantastic time on our rather royal trip to Windsor Castle!

The day started with Castle spotting and royal wave practising on the coach – we wanted to be prepared in case the Queen was home! Once near enough we were excited to spot the Royal Standard flag, as we had learnt from our Design and Technology lessons this meant the Queen was in residence!

After settling in to the Learning Centre we made our way to the Castle and we were just in time to get a good view of the changing of the guards. It was a very special experience for everyone – especially as the soldiers chose to play some Tom Jones instead of the expected royal fanfares!

Next was our interesting learning session, in which we learnt all about the Queen; including her family, hobbies and jobs. As we have been learning in History she is a very busy lady with lots to do – some of us were even lucky enough to partake in re-enactments of important parts of her life. These included an inspection of the guard, a knighting ceremony and a fantastic coronation! We found out about various objects and rooms to look out for during our tour of the state apartments...

After a tasty lunch we made our way to Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House and then on to the state apartments. Many of us wished we could have a Dolls’ House as big as Queen Mary’s to play with in Golden Time, but Miss Forsythe wasn’t sure where she would put it in the classroom! The state apartments were amazing; being able to spot statues of Queen Victoria and see the Garter Throne Room with a special portrait and the Queen’s throne on display were particular highlights. We were fascinated by how big the Castle was, and how grand some of the rooms were – it was a real treat to walk along the huge St George’s Hall where the Queen still holds important banquets, perhaps we will get an invite next time...

Despite the rain we had a wonderful day, finished off with a sleepy coach ride home - which included lots of discussion about our favourite part of the Castle.

A big thank you to our royal helpers for the day – Mrs Owen and Mrs Johal.