On Tuesday 4th October Year 9 eagerly set off for the ‘trip of the year’ to visit the Cadbury factory at Bournville, Birmingham. On arrival the girls were taken on a guided walk around part of Bournville’s ‘Garden Village’, where worker welfare was so important and community facilities were provided by the philanthropic Cadbury family. Having exercised it was time for several chocolate treats and the factory tour. The girls extended their understanding of chocolate making, Cadbury’s historic links with Ghana, and how Cadburys is adapting to its new owners Kraft Foods Company. The tour luckily finished at the entrance to the factory shop. Mr Meek and Mr Jones managed to buy over 200 items of chocolate between them, all for their pupils of course!
As well as the factory tour the girls also had the opportunity to listen to a very interesting talk presented by Cadburys Education Manager, Colin Pitt. The girls were able to find out in great detail how a trans-national corporation operates. Colin was overwhelmed with lots of poignant questions and praised the girls on their insight and interest. Year 9 will now complete a research and presentation project with the winning entries returning to Bournville to be displayed in the study centre.
The finale was a visit to the “Essence” Centre where the girls were able to experiment with their own chocolate concoctions, adding a range of fillings, from popcorn to Rice Crispies, before covering them with delicious, warm Dairy Milk chocolate!
A fantastic time was had by all, who would expect there would be so much geography in a humble bar of chocolate. In fact Mr Meek came up with a new word – ‘choc-graphy.’ Year 9 would like to extend their thanks to accompanying staff who valiantly volunteered for chocolate quality control duties.
Yummy education.” Alice 9M
“The trip was amazing I learnt a lot, because at the end of the day who can’t resist chocolate!” Marnie 9M
“Best trip ever.” Ellie 9M
“Learning about how chocolate was made and where it comes from was very interesting. The talk from Colin was very informative and will help us in our project on global companies. Thank you Cadburys.” Lydia 9M
