Trips & Visits
 |
Educational Visits LeadMs Grace Thomson |
Trips give students the opportunity to visit new places, participate in new activities and develop new friendships with their peers.
Trips offer students the chance to broaden their horizons and knowledge, and consolidate learning in a way directly related to the real world.
Frylands Outdoor Activity Centre
Our annual trip to Frylands focusses on outdoor adventure, managed in a way which encourages and enables young people to enjoy and experience the benefits of the natural environment. Students have the opportunity to develop their team building skills while overcoming obstacles (both physically and mentally) and in the process, build confidence and become more resilient. This is a fantastic opportunity for Year 7 students to create friendships at the start of their journey through secondary education.
Rewards Trips
At the end of each term students have the option to exchange the reward points they have earned for school equipment, privilege cards or tickets for one of our reward trips. Previous trips have included TenPin Bowling, Vue Cinema and Oxygen Freejumping. To find out more about our rewards programme, please see our Behaviour Policy.
Federation Sports Day
Harris Federation sports days give students the chance to represent their academy as part of a larger sporting community and to experience competition in a positive, well-organised setting. Bringing multiple schools together creates an atmosphere that feels bigger than a typical school event, which helps students build pride, motivation, and a stronger sense of belonging.
These events are valuable because they develop more than fitness. Students practise teamwork, leadership, communication, and resilience as they train, compete, and support each other. For many, sports day is also a chance to set personal goals, measure progress, and learn how preparation and effort translate into performance. The competitive element encourages students to handle pressure, learn from setbacks, and show respect for opponents—skills that transfer directly into learning and life beyond school.
Theatre & Ballet Trips
These trips take place throughout the year, with the intention of introducing students to live theatre and ballets, which are important aspects of British culture.
This year's theatre trips have included Back to the Future, Sleeping Beauty (ballet) and a pantomime.
BRIT School
BRIT School offers local schools an opportunity to watch their school performances and to work alongside their dance and drama instructors in a professional setting.
Bank of England
A recent trip to the Bank of England gave Purley students a valuable opportunity to see how the UK economy works in practice and to connect classroom learning to the real world. By exploring how the central bank manages inflation, interest rates, and financial stability, students were able to deepen their understanding of key business and economics concepts such as monetary policy, the role of banking, and the factors that influence consumer and business decision-making. The visit also helped students put current economic issues into context, strengthening their ability to analyse data and evaluate the impact of economic change on households and firms. Overall, the trip brought business and economic subjects to life, building students’ confidence and ambition by showing the relevance of what they study beyond school.
Kew Gardens
Kew Gardens gave our students an inspiring, real-world extension to their learning by exploring one of the UK’s most important centres for plant science and conservation. Through observing global plant collections and ecosystems first-hand, students strengthened their understanding of key topics such as biodiversity, adaptation, habitats, and the impact of climate change, linking directly to science and geography learning in school. The trip also encouraged careful observation and enquiry, helping students practise interpreting information in a professional research setting and asking sharper questions about how environmental decisions are made. Overall, the visit made classroom concepts more tangible and memorable, while showing students how scientific knowledge connects to real careers and global challenges.
Tilingbourne and Dorset
Trips to the Tillingbourne River and the Dorset coast provided an excellent opportunity for GCSE Geography students to carry out first-hand fieldwork in support of their coursework. Students collected and recorded data using a range of geographical techniques, including observations, measurements, sampling, and field sketches, before comparing patterns and evaluating the reliability of their findings. Working in these environments also strengthened key enquiry skills such as formulating hypotheses, using evidence to reach conclusions, and presenting results clearly. The rural river landscape and coastal scenery were a striking contrast to Croydon’s urban environment, helping students appreciate how physical processes shape very different places and giving them a richer context for understanding rivers, coasts, and the management of changing environments.
Berlin
The aim of this trip was to deepen students’ understanding of 20th-century history by learning on location, especially around the Cold War and division/reunification. Visiting key Berlin Wall sites helps students move beyond textbook knowledge by connecting events to real places, building historical enquiry skills and cultural awareness.
Science Museum and Natural History Museum
Trips to the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum are highly valuable because they extend learning beyond the classroom and place curriculum content into a real, memorable context. Seeing large-scale exhibits, authentic specimens, and interactive demonstrations helps students build stronger mental models of scientific ideas that can otherwise feel abstract. This improves recall and understanding, particularly in areas such as evolution, ecosystems, biodiversity, Earth processes, energy, forces, materials, and technology.
Ski Trips
We run a bi-annual ski trip to a popular European resort to give students a genuinely unique experience that many would not otherwise have an opportunity to experience. Learning to ski or snowboard in a real alpine environment helps students build confidence, resilience, and independence as they progressed from first sessions to tackling longer runs, while also developing teamwork and responsibility in an unfamiliar setting. Beyond the sport itself, the trip broadened students’ cultural awareness through time spent in different countries and mountain communities, and it encouraged healthy habits by combining daily physical activity with clear personal goals. For many students, the combination of challenge, achievement, and shared memories made the trip a standout part of school life.
