Our third day in Amsterdam began with a bus and tram ride to the Portuguese Synagogue. This is the oldest Synagogue in Europe.  We were given audio guides to listen to information, telling us all about the history of the Synagogue and about the interior. Mrs Yedd then took us on an additional tour of the outskirts, which included the Treasure Chambers, The Winter Synagogue and the Women’s Gallery.  Then we went to The Children’s Museum and Ashkenazi Shul. There were lots of memories of the Holocaust here and it was really interesting.

“I found it really interesting and it was very detailed.”  Hassan

“It was very interesting to see the oldest surviving Synagogue in Europe.” Rachel

Once we left the Synagogue, we went to the Jewish Heritage Museum. This museum had a huge section just for children. Four floors of great activities which allowed us to do arts and crafts, play various instruments such as the shofar, practise our Ivrit writing (which we know Shosh will be delighted to hear), and learn all about kosher kitchens and cooking. We also spent a lot of time in the adult section of the museum which took you through Jewish history and allowed us to see a lot of Jewish artefacts and learn about different people through time that have been Jewish. The museum was massive and we managed to see all of it. It was a really great afternoon.

We were pretty hungry after our busy start to the day, so we wandered along to a nearby park where we had our lunch and enjoyed playing on the swings and having ridiculous gymnastic and hopping competitions, which was very. The teachers were just delighted nobody had a hopping related injury!

To complete our day, we visited the Holocaust Memorial Centre. We visited an exhibition called ‘The demise of Abraham Reiss’ by Jeroene Krabbe. This artist painted nine pieces of art that told the story of his grandfather, who died in the war. These paintings were incredible and told a really important story. We also learned about the 600 children that managed to escape deportation with the help of the Jewish Resistance.

Our whole day has been so informative and has helped us to build a better picture of all the things we have been learning about in school. It has been quite a moving experience today, visiting all of these special Jewish places together as a class.

With one more day left, we’re excited to see what tomorrow brings.

In the Anne Frank house with our guide.

After our canal cruise around the city.

Photo with the statue of Anne Frank.

A random selection from Mrs Santi.

Inside Madame Tussauds.

Today was our second day in Amsterdam, and what a great day it has been. It was extremely busy and it is safe to say we are all very tired! We started our day with a big breakfast and made our way to one of Holland’s famous canal boat trips. The canal tour took us across the water, explaining about the history of Amsterdam and allowed us to see the capital’s great buildings and architecture as well as many famous spots around the city. We all managed to take some great photos.

The weather thankfully picked up from yesterday’s grey clouds and rain. We were lucky enough to even get a few hours of sunshine. It was at this point that we had a lovely walk through some of the tourist shops, where we all managed to buy a few souvenirs or two! Mrs Yedd even managed to buy herself a few badges for her collection, from her favourite shop! As we continued with our walk, we made our way to Dam Square, where we all enjoyed our lunch in the sunshine.

Recently, as part of our class Enterprise Topic, we all worked together in teams to create businesses where we sold a variety of products to the pupils of the school. We also sold badges, water bottles and pencil cases provided by the school. We had this great big Enterprise Day and raised £235. This money was to contribute to our Amsterdam trip. We decided, as a class, that a really wonderful way of spending this money would be to all visit Amsterdam’s Madame Tussauds Museum together. What a great decision! Everyone really enjoyed getting lots of pictures taken and posing with the wax statues of famous celebrities. With Mrs Santi’s selfie stick, we got a lot of very funny memories. We all thoroughly enjoyed doing this extra activity which had not been planned prior to the visit. It was a nice bonus that made all our hard work seem worthwhile. Even Mr Robson and Mrs Santi got some very funny photos too!

To complete our busy day, we walked round to the Anne Frank house, where we expanded our knowledge about World War Two and got a real insight into what we have been learning about throughout Primary 7. We were given a lesson about Anne’s life and how her life changed as she went into hiding before we entered the house. We were also told about the layout of the building which included the offices of Otto Frank’s business. We all found this time very emotional and fascinating as we have been learning a lot about Anne Frank’s life in school and it meant a lot to visit the actual house together as a class. This is a memory we won’t forget.

“I found the house very different in real life compared to the movies we have watched and some of the things we have read” – Rachel.

“It was a very overwhelming experience.” – Maddie.

“It was an exciting and interesting visit to the house.” – Hassan.

A big dinner finished off our day and it really has been a terrific day. We’re looking forward to seeing what tomorrow brings.

By Freddie, Josh, Iman and Rachel

That’s us in Amsterdam. We started our day with a slightly delayed KLM flight and arrived in Amsterdam in the afternoon. Once we had landed, we were met by a lady who had organised a bus to take us to our hotel. We dropped our bags off at the hotel and went to the dining area to have some lunch. We also got split into three different groups led by Mr Robson, Mrs Santi and Mrs Yedd.
Once we had finished, we hopped onto a bus that took us to a City Sightseeing Tour Bus that would take us around eleven parts of Amsterdam, telling us all about the different areas and its history. On this trip we saw famous landmarks such as, The Secret Annex, famous canals, the only windmill left in the city centre and the Jewish History Museum. Some of us were already a little tired and had a small snooze on the bus!
At the end of the tour, we ventured back to our hotel, where we were given the keys to our hotel rooms and told who we would be sharing with. With a little time to settle in to our rooms, we got to relax a little and unpack. The teachers then came in to check on us to see how things were going, before dinner.
At dinner, we got the chance to sit with our friends and talk about our rooms and favourite parts of the day. We can’t wait for the next few days and all the adventures to come!
By Maddie, Susie and Lilah