Early  yesterday morning, Upper Fifth and Sixth Form artists, with sketchbooks underarm and yawning widely, made the journey to London. As always, the weather improved greatly as we travelled further south and east and we arrived in our wonderful capital to glorious sunshine!

Our first stop was The National Portrait Gallery where the girls marvelled at the exquisite portraits on show, both contemporary and traditional. After a welldeserved lunch and brief entertainment by the street performers in Trafalgar Square, we entered The National Gallery to encounter the mastery of van Gogh, Cezanne and Turner to name but a few.

But the real highlight was The Saatchi Gallery, to be recommended to all! Pupils and Staff were very lucky to be shown around by very inspiring young tour guides and the exhibition, Champagne Life, was so apt as it was entirely by female artists. The brilliant artwork on show ranged from life-sized ceramic cows, to monumental wire bobbins to breath-taking pencil portrait drawings. All girls worked tremendously hard on the trip and gathered an amazing range of ideas for their examination projects.