On the 5^th September, Year 7 embarked on a journey that was showcasing all the inventions and models which were originally based in the North East, the trip lasted the majority of the school day and was enjoyed by many people.

The trip started by travelling by Metro to Central Station where we darted excitedly to the Discovery Museum to have a look around a small handful of the rooms, and to see Robert Stephenson’s famous 200 year old steam train called ‘Rocket.’

In the Museum, we first had a look at a technology/science exhibition. There were two rooms that you could roam around in. The first room was where you could build models out of the good original, Lego brick or you could design a model of Rocket. After that, we explored the second part of the room which was filled with old technology that dated back to the Nintendo Wii (well, rewind even further back in time) to a machine that was used in a mill in the Victorian period. 

After we had a thorough explore through the technology of the ages, we eagerly raced to see the main attraction, Stephenson’s Rocket.

We discovered many facts about the locomotive, such as it was originally designed to race for a competition with five other competitors battling out for a £500 prize, (which is £40,000 in today’s money) and he won by default as his train was the only locomotive that could sustain a 35 mile journey from Liverpool to Manchester.

We also found out that the Rocket also caused the first railway accident as well a politician climbed onto the track and was hit by Rocket.

We all enjoyed learning about the Rocket and seeing the actual model, but for many pupils, the highlight was buying sweets from the gift shop.

As we left the Discovery museum, we tracked all the way to the Lit and Phil library where we saw a history of the North East constructed out of Lego, and then we went into the hall where we could play on a virtual reality headset, even play on a video game and assemble parts.

After that we departed from the Lit and Phil, and made our way back to the Metro station and made our way back to school. I really enjoyed that trip and would love to do it again next year with even more models to showcase and even more amusing activities that we could do. 

By Tasha 7MR

On Wednesday 5^th September we had a chance to go look around the Exhibition of the North. This was on our second day back to school and we were all excited for the trip.

At the side of town was a building and inside was a lot of equipment to do with STEM. Right outside this building was a place where some suffragettes had fought for women rights. In this building was a flat where some Newcastle united footballers had lived as the tour guide had told us. It was quite interesting as we got to see a model of how the building was built. We got to look into how our houses work inside the heaters, fridges and the other electronic devices we use every day in our home.

Next we got to see a museum where some of us got the chance to do a treasure hunt. In the same museum there was also an engineering part where there were two virtual reality headsets one of them was when we had to use a crane to move crates and the other you had to use this special device to make the metal melt. One part of the engineering section was building Lego. Engineers use materials like Lego to help them plan and build real life buildings.

The last workshop we went to was about how the first lightbulb was made and who invented it. Joseph Swan invented the lightbulb. It was an interesting trip and we learnt lots about our region and the famous people and inventions associated with it.

By Tasnim