Statistics Trip – London

On Wednesday 7^th February the Statistics Department took 24 keen students to London, to give them an experience of learning beyond the classroom. Not only was the use of statistics the focus, but also some cross-curricula learning linked to History and Economics.

Students walked from Farringdon Station to Smithfield Market and had a brief, very important overview of its history.

One of the main stops was the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), where students had a short talk from Mrs Bansal on companies and their trading of shares; how the companies were affected by the pandemic, and the bounce back. Students were shown graphs to help their understanding. It was here that they were given a surprise competition challenge, which will launch after half term.

The competition tasks the students to invest £1000 (not real money!) in shares of their choice trading on the LSEG: they will invest to maximise their financial return. Entering the competition will offer the opportunity to discuss risk, by analysising how much students are making on a weekly basis using statistics. There will be vouchers awarded to the top three students who have made the most money. Needless to say, students are keen to begin, some have already started to think about and research investment possibilities.

After lunch, students walked to the Royal Exchange, where they learned how it originated and how it is used today, unfortunately, it was not possible to go in, but there was plenty of history around the site for students to read.

The final stop was the Bank of England Museum. This was filled with information, from the history of banking to its links to the slave trade, there was an exhibition to show how slavery still affects the bank today.

The importance of gold was highlighted by the opportunity to hold a gold bar worth over £600,000: about 400,000 of these are kept in vaults underground. This was followed by a 30-minute introduction to monetary policy and how it works. For GMS students this links topics such as consumer price index and inflation, which is taught in statistics.

Overall students appreciated not only the learning but the rich culture and history London has to offer and how much more there is yet to explore.