4 October 2019

A key part of our transition programme from Year 11 to Year 12 is our weekend social residential to Liverpool. Always at the end of September, it allows students to forge new and firmer friendships with others they know from Year 11 or have met since the start of term. The action-packed programme celebrates the diversity and culture of the City...and some shopping, too!  With accommodation at the YHA Liverpool (which serves some of the best breakfasts known to (wo)man), the trip is  also very affordable and a great time (again) was had by all. Here is an account from three of our Year 12s about our 2019 residential....

We started the weekend in high spirits as we left Newport to make our journey to Liverpool. During the two-hour journey we had a group singalong with some questionable vocals from the back row. When we arrived, we went straight to the hostel and dropped our bags off before heading straight to the museum of Liverpool. In the museum there were many exhibitions ranging from the Beatles, John and Yoko to Liverpool’s history. Our favourite part of the museum has to be the “sound proof” karaoke booth which by the looks we received from passers-by didn’t do its job particularly well. Songs ranged from Imagine by John and Yoko to everyone’s favourite festive hits (not enjoyed by Mr Tolley).

After a couple of hours of exploring we headed back to the hostel to get dressed up for dinner and a trip to the theatre. After a quick dinner and much to our dismay a lack of choc ices, we headed to the theatre to see Motown the musical. Unfortunately for the teachers the karaoke from earlier continued into the night as we all sang along to our favourite Motown hits. For many the show was stolen by little Michael Jackson singing the absolute bop that is ABC by the Jackson 5. As high spirits continued we walked back to the hostel for a much-needed sleep to prepare for the busy day ahead.

With a bright and early start on Saturday morning we filled ourselves up with a lovely breakfast and hopped on the bus for a Beatles magical mystery tour. The tour allowed us to explore many of the famous Beatles sights whilst learning some fun facts about the world-famous band which we didn’t realise would prove so useful until the quiz that evening. We visited Penny Lane, Strawberry Field, the Beatles statue and some of the members childhood homes. We ended the tour with an exciting trip to the Cavern Club where we had the fourth singalong of the trip and had a boogie.

We then split off and had time to explore the city in friendship groups. This allowed us to all explore the areas of Liverpool that interested us the most, for many this was a quick trip to McDonalds’ and an afternoon of retail therapy without considering the damage it would make to our (parents’) bank accounts. After having shopped till we dropped we headed for our evening meals at various restaurants around Liverpool.

We regrouped back at the hostel for the much-awaited quiz. Some friendly trash talk between a certain two rival teams was dished out and the quiz began. After many questions being geography and science based the teachers should’ve had a clear advantage however the Disney, music and Christmas rounds meant that the teachers team had nothing on the Spaghetti-os and the winners of the quiz: Revasaurus Rex. A particular highlight of the quiz for all was when the year 12 anthem of Timber was played and it was made clear that everyone knew the answer by the fifth and final singalong of the trip. Everyone headed to bed in high spirits for an unsuccessful light out attempt by teachers.

On Sunday we headed to the ferry terminal for the famous Liverpool Mersey ferry across to the U-boat museum. The weather took a turn for the worse but we didn’t let this dampen our spirits. After the ferry we had our final free time to continue to explore Liverpool before heading home. For many this included a return trip to McDonalds for lunch. The bus journey home was certainly quieter as many napped to recharge after the busy weekend.

Finally, we’d just like to thank Mrs Bailey for organising the trip as its safe to say all involved had a fabulous time and thank you to all the teachers who came along to enjoy the weekend with us.     

Hannah, Minnie & Leah (Year 12)