Today I had the opportunity to go on a school trip with year 8’s and Danny (English Teacher) to Dartmoor Zoo. The purpose of this trip was to take certain year 8 students, who were voted by the rest of the year, to a full day session on how they can support their peers when/if they find out they are smoking. This was set up and ran by the NHS.

The day consisted of multiple activities to get pupils thinking of effects that smoking can give, and set them loads of scenarios, which involved acting, creating and thinking – relating to the ethos of the school.

During breaks, pupils and teachers got given free food, and we were able to explore around the zoo. During the lunch break, myself, one of the NHS supporters and 6 students walked around the zoo. An incident occurred during this walk where a member of the public decided to swear and tell off one of the pupils for being disrespectful to the wolves. This was a difficult situation as I had no fully qualified teacher with me to handle it. We all ended up walking away, not saying anything, and I spoke to the effected pupil separately, then fed back to Danny who was inside at the time.

Overall the trip was a different experience for me. Working with new pupils, in a different environment, with different situations which had to be dealt with on the spot.