At Smithdon we believe that trips are more than just an outing away from School (or home). What appears to be a simple ‘trip’ is much more than that: it is a learning opportunity; it is a chance to gain a new and exciting experience; it is an opportunity to go on an adventure – whether for a few hours or a few days.

We believe that every child deserves the opportunity to experience life and activities outside of their normal environment, and sometimes in a challenging situation, at least once in their educational journey at school. As such, while there have been numerous opportunities to gain these experiences in the past (see below), we are always trying to increase the number of these experiences available to students and also in a range of areas of interest – so that everyone wants to attend at least one ‘trip’ with us.

If the cost of trips is a concern for you, please do contact our Finance Officer – see the Learner Support Fund page – as there is help available to subsidise trips, subject to certain criteria.

In-school Activities

Various speakers have visited the school for subjects such as Health and Social Care. These speakers have come from the UEA, Norwich and from several departments of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kings Lynn.

In the Faraday Challenge, two teams of Year 8 students competed against other schools in the Trust to complete a challenge to design and build a product that would enhance road safety. They then had to present their idea and explain how it would work.

In February 2024,  the National Space Academy came into school and presented a space to learn masterclass with some of our Year 10 students.  Students were able to see a space suit that had been used on the International Space Station and were able to touch a piece of moonrock.  Students created hovercrafts and rockets and witnessed woosh rockets speed across the classroom.  They were also able to hear about various different careers involved in the space industry. These ranged from the people who make the space suits to the astronauts themselves.

Locally, we do various work with local primary schools, which are sometimes supported by Smithdon High School students. (see Community Collaboration with primaries)

Adventures outside the classroom

Year 7 PGL Adventure
Year 7 are given the opportunity to get to know their new peers even better, learn how to support one another, and discover previously unknown personal strengths – as well as see their tutors and some of their teachers in a whole different environment, at PGL Caythorpe Court, Lincolnshire.

The students take part in team-building activities, fun games and (often) their first days away from home without family members. The outdoor pursuits include climbing, high ropes and kayaking, which require plenty of energy, so the students are also provided with tasty, hot meals each day cooked by the resident chefs.

Geography Fieldwork
Years 10 and 11 are required to carry out field work as part of the GCSE course – one is a Coastal Unit, the other an Urban Unit. The purpose of the day is to see the aspects of physical and environmental geography in situ, to carry out research and gain a greater understanding of the theory taught in lessons. Our Urban visit takes students to Norwich, and for coasts we use Hunstanton.

The National Food, Farming and Natural Environment Competition 2024

Science Event
A total of 10 Year 9 Students attended the UEA Bringing Science to You Event at St Clements High School.  Along with a talk on university and also careers students were then able to have a go at several experiments from identifying unknown substances, programming a Lego robot, deciding how to clear up an oil spill alongside looking at non-Newtonian fluids.

Paris – July 2024

MFL Aspire Day
MFL ran a Cross-Trust MFL Aspire day in June - offering an opportunity for our promising and gifted linguists to meet and work with other language students from across the Trust, giving a flavour of language learning as further study, in the Sixth Form and beyond. French and German students had the chance to learn some beginner's Italian, and to work on cultural aspects of language learning to further broaden their GCSE content and spoken confidence.

Performing Arts – 2023 to 2024
In September 2023, GCSE students watched a performance of "Feel Me" at the Garage Theatre in Norwich; the new innovative work of the performing company Paper Birds. This was an interactive performance where students were able to participate and shape the drama with their mobile phones. It was a new and interesting experience for our Drama students.

In October 2023, Year 9 and GCSE Drama students visited the Theatre Royal in Norwich and watched a production of the critically acclaimed Ghost Story 2:22. The students were suitably scared and really enjoyed the show.

In December 2023, over 100 students from Year 7 attended the Princess Theatre in Hunstanton to watch the pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk. In the interval, we enjoyed refreshments and thoroughly enjoyed the performance; "Oh yes we did!"

In March 2024, we were visited by the notorious devising company ‘Splendid Production’ who performed their latest production to students in our own school hall. This was funded by the Hunstanton District Festival of Arts and we are most grateful to them for their contributions whilst enabling us to give students such fantastic opportunities.

In May 2024, we took Smithdon students, along with students from the other trust High schools, on a day trip to London to the Royal Albert Hall to see the Film Music Gala. On the coach we drove through London and we were able to give the students a tour of many of the famous attractions including Big Ben, The Tower of London and Westminster Abbey. Upon reaching the hall, we were amazed at the inside of the impressive venue. Listening to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra playing an assortment of music from films inspired by Heroes and Superheroes, was such a wonderful experience.

In June 2024, we had the amazing opportunity to take a group of students to see Everybody’s Talking About Jamie at the Theatre Royal in Norwich. The students loved the show and appreciated the opportunity to see a professional company performing, especially such a fun and popular show.

Key Stage 3 at the Norfolk Show
In June 2024, over 200 students attended the 2024 Royal Norfolk Show. Students were toured around in small groups by their teachers to enable them to visit the animal exhibitions, displays of farm machinery, food stalls and trade stalls, as well as having a chance to see some of the live events.

Alton Towers Reward Trip
In March 2-24, Year 11 Students enjoyed a wide variety of rides and attractions with some brave enough to enjoy the rollercoaster with 14 loops known as the Smiler. Several students were able to experience the ‘big seven coasters’: The Smiler, Oblivion, Nemesis, Galactica, Rita, Wicker Man and Thirteen. Many were keen to ride the new attraction for 2024 – Nemesis Reborn.

Pleasurewood Hills Reward Trip
In July 2024, over 150 students took the two hour coach trip from Hunstanton to Pleasurewood Hills where they had five hours to explore the many rides and attractions. The brave tried the looping coaster called Wipeout. Other popular rides were the log flume, Egg Coaster and pirate ship. Some students enjoyed the sealion show, while others took the opportunity to enjoy the food on offer around the park.

Bushcraft Adventure
In May 2024, as a joint enterprise with the High Schools across the West Norfolk Academies Trust, 37 Year 8 students were invited to participate in a bushcraft experience in Thetford Forest. Students spent three days and two nights working on team-building activities with a difference, under the instruction of Explore4more coaches.

Year 8 Insight Discover trip to Jesus College, Cambridge University for the students’ ‘My Future’ project

Year 8 Insight Discover trip to Paxton Pits Nature Reserve
This was organised and run by Cambridge University in partnership with Insight Discover, it was a fantastic opportunity for students to learn about climate change both globally and locally. During the visit students were able to participate in activities that helped them to build up their debating skills, building confidence in being able to stand and talk in front of others. Students were able to spend time working with and talking to students from other schools. In addition, students were provided the opportunity to upcycle textiles into a new product and participate in pond dipping learning about the environment and species living in the pond.

Year 8 Brilliant Club trip to Magdalene College, Cambridge University
Students were given the fantastic opportunity to attend a graduation ceremony at Cambridge’s Magdalen college to celebrate all of their achievements during the Brilliant Club programme. During the programme they had a PhD student Jack Keeble, an undergraduate lecturer at the UEA come in and teach students about ‘Economics’. Prior to the trip students had participated in an eight week programme involving persuasive essay style writing with Jack and had earned themselves university style grades from their hard work. The trip gave them the opportunity to meet other students participating in Brilliant Club and discuss the different topics that each school had researched, students participated in their graduation, dined in Magdalene College’s fine dining hall and were given an exclusive campus tour.

Art and Design and Design Technology
Students studying GCSE Art and/or Design and Technology were given the opportunity to join us on an exciting day trip to London via the train from Kings Lynn to Kings Cross Station. During the day we explored London transport hopping on and off the London Underground to help us along our way. We visited ExCEL London for their temporary Disney 100 exhibition, a magical experience allowing students and staff to view over 200 original drawings, costumes, props and set designs from a huge range of Disney stories and films. Our second stop of the day was to the Design Museum to see the Designer, Maker, User exhibition on display demonstrating how designers have innovatively changed designs and technology over the years. Lastly, we stopped off at the Saatchi Gallery where we were able to view exciting modern paintings by artist Sofia Laskari and large-scale nature inspired photos and videos by photographer Burtynsky.

A group of Year 9 students were offered the chance to visit the Bespak factory in Kings Lynn as part of National Manufacturing Day. This is an annual event, where manufacturers showcase the range of highly skilled and well-paid jobs they have on offer by throwing open their doors in a UK wide Open House. As part of this, Recipharm (Bespak) offered our students the opportunity to go on a tour of their manufacturing facilities and see the different areas of the business. We were able to meet and talk to subject experts and apprentices for them to explain the areas. Due to the limited number of places available, students were asked to ‘apply’ for a place on the trip by emailing to explain why they would like to go.

Students had the opportunity to take part in a design and build Rotary Club Technology Tournament against teams from other local schools. Two teams of 4 students from Year 10 were given a task to design and build a vehicle to deliver an emergency aid package using only a defined set of materials.  The competition was judged by the Rotary Club and one of our teams was crowned overall winner in the KS4 category, having in fact accomplished the higher-level task, set for KS5 students. The event gave participants some really valuable experience of working together in teams to create a design solution to solve a problem.

Students in Year 8 visited The Big Bang Fair, a national STEM event, at the NEC in Birmingham. From sustainability and the environment, to life-changing inventions and innovations, they were able to take part in hands-on activities, careers panels and workshops. All activities, shows and workshops at The Big Bang Fair are designed specifically for young people aged 10 to 13 years old and included a visitor treasure trail, a Meet the Future You careers quiz and the chance to meet scientists, engineers and STEM professionals.

Some of the activities they were able to participate in were:

• Immersive Experience with Jaguar Land Rover Ltd and Jaguar TCS Racing
• National Grid - students explored the fascinating world of electricity and its various applications through engaging demonstrations and activities.
• Zoolab – students learnt how humans are discovering so much from nature to help us in the world of STEM. They could out about Shark Scale technology is used on ships, how whale fins help our wind turbines and even how snake venoms become a cure.
• Rolls-Royce plc – this was an interactive opportunity to talk to real life engineers. Students could get hands on operational experience of piloting a submarine, building an aero engine, manufacturing your own reactor and taking a tour inside one our iconic engines.
• Discover Materials - materials make up everything that that we use every day and by knowing how materials behave enables us to choose the best material for a specific use. Students could learn how materials are made and how they behave by breaking them and looking at them under a microscope. Students could also discover how they can be used in different areas such as sports and even in space exploration!
• AtkinsRealis – these were professionals from diverse backgrounds and industries. They gave be on hand to guide your students, answer any questions and give them an insight into their daily lives and exciting roles in STEM.

Plans for 2024 to 2025

MFL

In July 2025, A Year 8 trip to Northern France is being organised in conjunction with the History department. We will stay at the Chateau de Warsy. The students would be able to enjoy many aspects of French culture, as well as having the opportunity to use the language from their lessons in a real-life context. The outline of the trip is a beach before heading to the Chateau de Warsy. We will have a full day on the Somme Battlefields of WWI followed by a visit to the Museum Albert to see trench life. In addition, we will have a full day in Paris visiting the Tower Montparnasse to have a panoramic view of the city, seeing the Eiffel Tower and cruising on the Seine River. On the way back, we will stop at a bakery.

Performing Arts
We will be holding our annual Year 7 pantomime trip to the Princess Theatre in Hunstanton on 20 December.

In January, 50 students will be offered the chance to see "An Inspector Calls". This is a fabulous production and will help our GCSE Students immensely as the play will be studied in English lessons as part of their course.

Finally, we are delighted that alongside the Art and DT department we will be running a first international residential for many years. We will visit Lake Garda in Italy in May half term 2025. The trip will include visits to Venice and Verona. As well as experiencing Italian culture, we will be visiting galleries, cities and a theme park. We will be participating in mask making workshops as well as culinary experiences.

Art and Design and Design Technology
Year 10 GCSE Art students will be given the opportunity to visit the ‘Lay of the Land’ exhibition at the Kings Lynn Guildhall and Shakespeare Barn. They will take part in a mixed media workshop with exhibiting artist Mary Blue. The day will also include a visit to Kings Lynn museum.

As in previous years we hope to invite GCSE Art and Design and Technology students on a day trip to London, to experience both art galleries and design related attractions. The exact locations and itinerary will be decided later in the year depending on what exciting exhibitions/activities are available in London this year.

Physical Education
Year 10 GCSE PE students have been invited to go rock climbing at Lynnsport.  Rock Climbing is one of the sports that the students can be moderated against. The activity gives the students an opportunity to try something new. They learn the skills of harnessing, belaying, climbing and descending the wall.

Sports students in Years 8 to 11 have been invited on an amazing Holland football tour in the 2025 Easter Holidays. They will be staying in Centre Parcs in Limburg, Holland. The trip will include a range of activities, including playing two football games against local football teams. They will take part in training sessions in great facilities. They will tour the PSV football Stadium, as well as taking part in bowling and will be able to use the Centre Parcs facilities.

The Future
Creative students in current Year 8 and 9 have been invited on an exciting opportunity to visit and stay in New York, USA on Times Square. The trip will be taking place in February half term of 2027, and will include a huge range of activities including a Broadway show, visits to art galleries, a visit to the 911 memorial site, a boat trip to Liberty and Ellis island and a trip up the Empire State building. Of course, while there we will be dining in some well-known American restaurants such as Dallas BBQ, Tick Diner and Hard Rock Cafe to sample lots of tasty food too!