On Wednesday, 28th June, Year 8 Quest Academy students visited the wonderful sporting facilities at Crystal Palace. We circumnavigated the impressive stadium with its wonderful running track and enjoyed “elevenses” at the cafeteria in the sports centre.

Santino Di Paolo won the first merit of the day for finding the first dinosaurs on the Dinosaur Trail. We were delighted with the great effort of the students in navigating this exciting trail. There were surprises around every corner: Miss Jones-Alleyne was more impressed with the ducklings on the Dinosaur Lake than the dinosaurs!

Not too long after the delicious elevenses in the sports centre café, we rested under the trees for a picnic lunch and another opportunity to chat and relax.

For the majority of the students and some of the staff, the highlight of the afternoon was provided by facing the challenge of completing the maze in less than half an hour. For others, the challenges of football and cricket games proved more exciting.

Before trekking back across the beautiful park we had a surprise visitor: Scout, a black American cocker spaniel conducted a full inspection of everybody’s bags, to the embarrassment of his owner and to our delight. He was rewarded with lots of hugs and squeals of excitement.

L. Mcleod