JTA's to Brent Cross West Station

Last month, six ‘mini reporters’ from our school set out from school to the new Brent Cross West station for a fun day out in central London.

The students, who have the role of Junior Travel Ambassadors at our school, took their investigative reporting skills on the road (or train in this case) to explore the new station and beyond.

Making the most of the new 12-minute connection to St Pancras International station, our mini reporters were also able to discover King’s Cross during a fun day of activities set up by development partners Related Argent.  

Here’s what the students wrote together about their day, and what they thought of the station:

"We are students from Claremont Primary school, more specifically we are the Junior Travel Ambassadors, JTA for short. We were chosen by our Headteacher, Sally Neaves, and our Executive Head, Dan Hawkins, to go on a trip to St Pancras International station to visit King’s Cross and report back our thoughts of the trip. 

We started by walking to Brent Cross West train station, which is the first mainline station in London to be built in ten years. As we walked towards it, it was really impressive. The eastern entrance is a triple height building, towering wooden pillars with lots of glass windows, making it a light and spacious space. To the left as you go up the escalator, there is a bright coloured mural and at the top walkway, an art piece completed by the local community. All dotty! The station was clean and fresh and the staff who worked there were very welcoming and even allowed us to have the opportunity to speak on the tannoy. ‘Mind the step, please!’

The train arrived and we piled in, it only took us 12 minutes to get to St Pancras International station (Kings Cross). Right in the centre of London. So quick!

Wandering through King’s Cross, we passed many interesting buildings and saw a lovely relaxing fountain on the way. There are many different outside works of art for everyone to enjoy.

Did you know? The new Google building in King’s Cross, which is nearly built, is as long as the Shard is tall. We found out this fact from a lovely lady at the King’s Cross information centre.  This is where you will also find a brilliant model of the King’s Cross development. 1,700 homes have been built, including a primary school and a school for the deaf. Everything should be completed by next year. 

Next, we went across the road to The Lightroom, to see a journey with Tom Hanks, called the Moon Walkers. To the bottom of the building, we went into a huge cube-like room. We sat right at the front and waited! Suddenly, on each wall, including the ceiling, there were interesting facts about astronauts, NASA and the Apollo space rocket journey to the moon projected all over. Tom Hanks, with his soothing voice narrated the journey. We sat and watched as the fantastic scenery was surrounding us. It made us feel like we were part of the moon and space. We highly recommend this experience for anyone; it is suitable for all ages even if you're not interested in moon landings. It was an out of this world experience!

Lunch, yummy! Happy Face Pizza is a thousand times better than our school lunches! A modern, welcoming restaurant, which had a delicious menu of mouth-watering food. While waiting for our food, we were given colouring sheets with highlighter pens to keep us busy. We were able to have pizza, dough balls and choose from a variety of dreamy ice cream. Very much a place to enjoy a delicious pizza.

Feeling well-fed, we went on to visit Club Curling, a fun winter activity. It was quite challenging, but great fun. Due to us only being young, we chose to use the children version of the curling stones. These had silver balls on the button that worked like wheels. The aim was to glide the curling stone to the target, which was at the end of the lane. Sounds easy, but it is easier said than done! If using the child friendly curling stones, it is accessible for very young children and up to any age. An unusual activity, but worth having a go. We had lots of laughs while taking part in this activity.

Sadly, our time was running out and we had to return to St Pancras International to get the train to Brent Cross West. 12 minutes on the train and we were back. Fortunately, we had a few minutes to spare so we went to the Edgware Road entrance, so we could compare both entrances. The Edgware Road entrance is a large dark cube with lots of glass, not as vibrant and organic as the West entrance. 

Without doubt, this trip was absolutely amazing and a memory we will never forget."

- From the Junior Travel Ambassdors (AKA our mini reporters)

Thanks to Related Argent, Thameslink and station staff who helped us organise the day and gave the students a chance to make station announcements - an unforgettable memory.