Year 7 investigate Ampleforth Abbey

By Olivia Hearn and Rachel Conway, Year 7

Our trip to Ampleforth was full of interesting and exciting  activities. We had fun but also learned a lot.  For example, we learned about the monks’ daily lifestyle and about their boarding school.

Father Bede gave us a tour of the monastery and told us who was in charge (the Abbot). One of the things he explained to us was that it was St Andrew’s Day on the day we were there, so the monks say ‘Happy Feast Day’ to each other when it is their feast day but not on their birthdays.

We had a chance to ask questions and learn more about Father Bede, the monastery and the school. Some of the questions were: ‘Did any of your family judge you when you became/were thinking about becoming a monk?’ He kindly answered our questions in as much detail as he could.

While we were there, we were invited to a quiz where we had to find answers to questions by looking around the building. We were split in half so we wouldn’t all go to the same place at once and when we reached the building we were split into 3 smaller groups. Surprisingly, it was actually quite challenging to find all the answers, but adults were there to help us by pointing in the direction of where the answers were. If we had found all the answers we were allowed to do an extension and find out more about the place and its history.

Overall, we had a great educational experience that we will never forget. Thank you to all the staff that helped make this happen.