Their bench was located on Tower Green close to the entrance. The children's faces lit up as they arrived and saw that their Wild in Art artist, Katy Dynes, had also come to greet them! One of the beefeaters congratulated the children and we had an official unveiling ceremony including cutting the ribbon.

Colonel Blood, a brilliant actor, took us back in time to 1671 where he attempted to steal the Crown Jewels. We heard all about his plan to embarrass King Charles by taking off with the orb, sawing the sceptre in half, hammering the crown flat and walking out with it all in his trousers! He was caught and imprisoned but later was given back his freedom by the King. 

After the history workshop, we visited the jewel house. We were shocked to find out that none of the Crown Jewels are insured! They are protected each night behind 2 steel iron doors weighing 4 tonnes - roughly the same weight as an elephant! Mrs Green was plotting how to make off with one of the crowns and become the queen of Loughton School. Mrs Holliday was equally as fascinated with the number of diamonds in the imperial state crown - almost 3,000 in total!

After lunch we had a walk around seeing the ravens and enjoyed looking for all the other school benches on the trail. Ours was definitely the best! We met an American teacher looking at our bench and the children proudly told her all about why it was designed as it was.

Our day ended with a quick tour of the bloody tower before heading back to school on the coach. Here are some of HB2s highlights - 

• William - when we got to see the crown jewels because of how many shiny gems there were!
• Colbey - my favourite part was seeing all the benches and walking around looking at all the old buildings
• Erin - my favourite part was when the actor was trying to steal the Crown Jewels because he was really funny 
• Daniel - I enjoyed the whole day out but especially the Crown Jewels and meeting Colonel Blood

Thank you to all the adults who attended the trip to make it a memorable day: Miss Hearne, Mrs Green, Mrs Frost, Mrs Holliday and Mr Foster