During the week commencing 19th January, Year 9 had the opportunity to visit Didcot Power Station. The students found this to be both an interesting and educational visit. Below are accounts written by two of the attendees. Thank you to everyone who helped make the visit such a success!

Mr Ewart, Trip Leader

A visit to Didcot Power Station by Megan Iliff -Rolfe

On Thursday 22nd January, my science class and I went to Didcot Power Station. First of all we watched a short DVD and were informed about the different functions going on throughout the power station. We were given a hard helmet, goggles and a fluorescent jacket. We split into 6 groups and the tours began. Firstly we were taken to the coal supply. This was very interesting to watch. The coal had been loaded onto the trains and, when the train reaches the Power Station, the coal is unloaded. It looked like the coal just disappeared but it was actually being put into little rooms under the railway lines which lead to the place where the coal is crushed. Next, we were taken to the control room. There were so many computer screens and buttons; it was really confusing! According to our guide, there was someone on watch 24 hours a day. They had different 12 hours shifts, from 7am to 7pm and from 7pm to 7am. It was very interesting to see that the whole of the power station could be changed at the touch of a button! Finally, before we went home, we had a glance into a main building where most of the work went on. It was huge! However, the most amazing thing I thought was that there was only one person walking around inside. Apart from him the place was completely deserted. I really enjoyed the visit and would like to go again very soon.

The trip to Didcot Power Station by Gemma Faulkner

The trip to Didcot was really interesting. I really liked walking round the site because there was something new to see everywhere I looked! We had to wear safety equipment. The tour guides were happy to answer any questions that we had. They took us to see where the coal (imported from Russia that day) was deposited and taken to be ground up to powder. We also saw turbines five times the size of a full-grown man! We also saw the huge cooling towers! All in all it was a fascinating visit and I would recommend it to anyone.