On the 31st of January we went on our Year 7 Geography trip to Kew Gardens, and what a day it was!

We started our day with an informative lesson from some of the Kew Gardens experts. We learnt about the shocking differences between the UK outside environment and the tropical rainforest and succeeded in this by measuring the temperature of the air, soil, light and humidity. Also on this amazing tour, we learnt about different plantations and what effect they have on the environment. My favourite fact I learnt from this part of the day was that the Madagascar Periwinkle plant can be a great remedy for two types of cancer including leukaemia! We then went back to meet the other groups for a delicious lunch.

After lunch we ventured over to the palm house, which is the best version of a tropical rainforest in England! Inside, we slowly walked around, looking at all the amazing plants and reading lots of fascinating information about them while completing a worksheet. We then walked along the tree top walkway, where we got to see what it was like for the trees which broke away from the dense dark area and managed to grow so tall that they were at the very top of the palm house. I learnt in this part of the trip that the tallest tree in the Kew Gardens palm house was 23 metres, but in a real rainforest they get to around 40 metres!  Finally, we had a quick stop at the gift shop and hopped back onto the bus in time for the end of the school day.

Nell Dreadon, Year 7