Our Year 8 children went to London yesterday to study the Olympic Park as part of their research into sustainability in an urban environment. The Olympic Park is a great case study and whilst the topic could be investigated simply in the classroom, the children gain a much better understanding and recall of the topic by actually visiting the site of the 2012 Olympics and seeing the local area.
The children arrived at Westfield London and walked out into the Olympic Park, seeing the main stadium (now West Ham's football ground and called London Stadium), the VeloPark, Aquatics Centre, media centre (now offices) and the athletes village (now East Village apartments). The children then compared the sustainability of East Village to the local area around Hackney Wick; visited the energy centre, a cutting edge decentralised energy scheme; and mapped the Olympic Park.
By the time the trip finished at Stratford International train station the children had walked for five miles (stopping in the velodrome for lunch) and gained a valuable insight into the area.
