Banbury students enjoy science and technology trip to Germany

Alongside visits to the sea life centre, the Allianz Arena and St Peter’s church, the youngsters aged 12 to 16 paid a visit to the BMW Museum where they learned about the history of the brand, viewed a variety of vehicle models and prototypes and learned about motor manufacturing.

Later in the week, they toured the Deutsches Museum, the world’s largest science and technology museum, covering fifty areas of science and technology including aerospace, engineering and communications.

“It was awesome,” says Year 11 student, Riley. “It was fun finding our way around the city - it has a great transport system and we got to see so much related to our STEM subjects.”

Futures Institute is part of the Aspirations Academies Trust which places emphasis on applied learning, employability and the development of power skills like collaboration, communication, critical thinking and problem solving. Each year the school runs an overseas trip to visit STEM sites abroad as a way of developing the students’ cultural capital.

Principal, Julia Ingham commented: “Our Futures Institute annual trip abroad once again proved to be a trip of a lifetime for so many of our students. For many it was their first time travelling abroad and Munich with its range of STEM and cultural experiences was the most wonderful destination. As well as the sights and attractions that we visited, students also thoroughly enjoyed shopping, eating and using public transport in a different country and for some of them seeing mountains for the first time!”

Trip leader Dr Cat Pickup explained that the trip had been memorable for her: “It was wonderful to see the students’ response to the things we were showing them. They were stopped in their tracks when they saw the gold altar at St Peter’s church and again when we went inside the changing room at Bayern Munich where Harry Kane’s shirt was hanging!”