Year 6 trip to Rome

1st June 2022
Year 6 have returned from the most fantastic trip to Rome and we are incredibly proud of the children for their outstanding behaviour, beautiful manners and sense of fun and adventure!
We packed so much into our five days there, most importantly, spending time with our school friends at the Istituto Del Sacro Cuore.  Istituto Del Sacro Cuore is one of our Sacred Heart Network schools and the trip was a fabulous opportunity to make friends with the school children and community in Rome.  They were fantastic hosts, showing us around the school and letting us see what school life is like in Italy.  Play was our 'lingua franca' and the lack of a common language did not stop the children making friends!
We visited the Spanish Steps and Trevi fountain while near Istituto Del Sacro Cuore, moving on to investigate the Pantheon and a number of ice cream parlours along the way...
We were very fortunate to be in Rome at the same time as the Pope and Wednesday was a real highlight for us with a Papal visit and time spent in the Vatican.  Despite it being very hot, thousands of people joined us to see Pope Francis.  We visited St. Peter's Basilica and found the statue of St. Madeleine Sophie, followed by some time shopping and a walk to the Trastevere part of the city.  We also managed to arrange a visit to the Venerable English College (VEC) where we met two men from our Diocese who are training to be priests.  This was a special part of our visit and we were delighted to go to Mass with the VEC community.
Rome is filled with culture and history and we could not visit without a trip to the famous Colosseum.  We weren't disappointed - the sheer scale of the building and the rich history was fascinating.  The trip was incredible and we were so lucky to have been awarded the Turing Grant which enabled us to take the whole class without charge.