LOOK DRAW BUILD @ Reading Station

On Monday 24th April Year 4 and Year 6 took a trip to Reading Station. You may wonder why and how this could be fun – but it was great fun! The trip was really interesting and we learnt a lot about a station that we didn’t know before. This is the first part of a STEM project to learn about architecture and engineering and everything that is needed to design a station. We were given a tour of the station and were very impressed by the structure of the station and seeing how it had changed and been improved. We learnt about everything that was needed from the ticket machines, to the indicator boards, the escalators and shops as well as the platforms and trains. We tried out the different ways to buy a ticket and to find out the cost even in first class. We compared using the ticket office, a ticket machine and the app. The ticket office was quickest, but we were lucky there was no queue! We even got to go on a train ride to Didcot and saw lots of different train types – GWR, Elizabeth Line, Sleepers. Our train travelled between 90-110mph but the high speed trains travel at around 125mph, but it was very smooth and didn’t feel that fast. It was even the first time on a train for one of us and going with our friends was far more exciting than going with our parents! We learnt lots of interesting facts about running a station and the safety. Did you know that there are 750volts in the tracks and 25000volts in the overhead lines and it takes the equivalent of 20 football pitches to stop a train in an emergency! There were lots of different features in the station to help blind people or those with other disabilities, such as braille maps, special floor tiles and display boards showing where to get on a train with a wheelchair. We all agreed we liked everything especially sketching the station and learning about three different eras of the station and going on the train made it different to a regular school trip. Look out for the next part coming in May!