Derby secondary Alvaston Moor Academy has rewarded 200 children for good attendance by taking them all the way to London for the day.
Many pupils from the 880-pupil school who went on the trip had never been to the capital, or even left Derby before.
The school leadership at the academy on Bracken’s Lane wanted to reward students who demonstrated more than 95 per cent attendance with something really special so organised a heavily subsidised trip to the capital.
Students plus 19 staff travelled to London by bus and enjoyed a visit to the Natural History Museum, a picnic in Hyde Park, a walk to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guard, and a stroll through Knightsbridge.
Alvaston Moor pupils who went on the day said it had been an amazing experience and parents commented that for many it was the trip of a lifetime.
On the coach heading to the capital, Seaira Coupland, 12, said: “My entire life, I’ve always wanted to go to London. I used to watch Paddington Bear which is in London – I used to watch that over and over again because he was in London. That made me want to go.”
On her return Seaira said London did not disappoint.
She said: “It was how I imagined it was. The houses were all the way up there! I started taking photos on the way and when I got into London we had to keep putting our phones up because everything was so tall! You could tell everyone was excited because they were screaming and shouting.”
Saffira Gardiner, also 12, said she had never been further away than Skegness before, saying she had found the UK capital city, “a lot more crowded, and big, and clumped together” than other places she had been.
Seaira said her favourite part of the day had been the visit to Natural History Museum which has a 25-metre blue whale skeleton suspended in the main hall, as well as standing in front of Buckingham Palace for the first time.
She said: “The museum was my favourite part. You’ve got a great whale skeleton on one side and you’ve got a mammoth with tusks on the other, and all of these other animal skulls from a long time ago. When you see these things on TV you don’t really what it looks like in real life. It’s very different seeing things on TV to how they look in real life.”
Alvaston Moor assistant principal Dan Ingram said: “Of the 200 children we took, most of them had never been to London and most had hardly been outside Derby. They all had a great time. Some of our parents said it was a trip of a lifetime. They were really excited about it.”
Boosting school attendance has been a focus for the academy with a range of measures put in place to help pupils.
Mr Ingram said: “The only way we are going to improve the life chances of students at our school is by getting them into school. Especially as we have come back from Covid, we have seen attendance drop – nationally, not just here, so it’s even more of a challenge and something we’ve got to keep on about. This is one of a number of things we have done in school to try and keep up the awareness of attendance.”
Over the course of the year Alvaston Moor has given out 400 cinema tickets as a reward for attendance. Teachers have also presented students with assemblies outlining the difference in educational outcomes through regular attendance at school.
