Students ‘stopped the clock’ for a day to enjoy a wide range of activities and experiences outside of the school.

Beaminster School took a break from its usual timetable, with students visiting Cheddar Gorge, Bovington Tank Museum, Bristol and Bridgwater College.

Headteacher Keith Hales said: “These days allow the school to suspend our usual hourly timetable to enable students to study key aspects of the curriculum for an extended period of time and in greater detail, as well as learning new skills and taking greater responsibility for their own learning.”

Year seven students were completing geography field work at Cheddar Gorge, looking at the formation of valleys, caves and river erosion in preparation for the topic of ‘adventure landscapes’ in their learning.

Bovington Tank Museum was the destination for year eight to provide a greater understanding of how the development of armoured vehicles reflects key events in the 20th century. The students enjoyed using the ‘Lego Mindstorm’ technology to build and control tank tracks, as well as getting an experience of what the trenches were like during the First World War, particularly poignant as their visit was on November 11.

Year nine had an intriguing day at ‘We the Curious’ science and arts centre in Bristol, where they were encouraged to pause, look further and reflect on the world around us. This included presentations in the planetarium about alien life, an interactive show and time to investigate the range of hands-on exhibits.

Year 10 students were provided with a range of experiences that included student and financial workshops with Bournemouth University or a study visit to Bridgwater College. They had the chance to gain a better understanding of vocational education and join in with some team building activities.

Students in year 11 had learning and revision workshops from Learning Performance, plus some time to get their coursework under control.