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Berlin 2026: “Trips like this help us go deeper”

8th May 26

Group of students posing in front of a large wall mural (part of the Berlin Wall) showing two close-up faces nearby each other, with the group at the bottom of the image to the left and center.

Our annual Year 10 History trip to Berlin once again helped to bring our students’ Cold War learnings to life.

Although the trip is not a compulsory part of the syllabus, there is no better city in the world to see the impact of the Cold War, a central focus of students’ studies in Year 10. The trip also goes beyond the GCSE History syllabus to consider the legacy of the Nazi regime.

The packed itinerary began with a walking tour of the city led by Head of Department Leon Whitman, who guided the group from Treptower Park to Alexanderplatz, pointing out significant Cold War sites along the way.

The rest of the two-night trip saw students pay visits to:

German Parliament
The city’s underground escape tunnels and nuclear bunkers
The East Side Gallery
A former Stasi prison and memorial
The German Spy Museum
The ‘Palace of Tears’, a former border crossing
The Berlin Wall memorial

“Trips like this help us go deeper on a topic”

Student Cara M-S (Y10) found the trip very beneficial, saying: “It was great for translating our learning into reality. Trips like this help us go deeper on a topic.

“Leon’s walking tour was particularly helpful. It was educational but entertaining too.”

Cara, who plans on taking A Level History when she joins the Sixth Form, added: “I think it’s so important to learn and be aware of what happened in the past – not only so we don’t make the same mistakes in the future, but also to have context of why things are the way they are.”

See more photos from the Berlin 2026 trip below. Read more about the trips offered at KAS on our Upper School co-curricular page, or look at our GCSE options.

Group of people sitting on a stone bench in front of a tall, windowed building with a large colorful mosaic mural above.

Group of three female students sitting on a wooden bench in front of a large wall mural depicting people climbing a border fence from the 1989 Berlin Wall era.

Group of students with backpacks viewing a mural of a vintage van breaking through a blue wall, with a clear blue sky above.

Group of students standing in a circle in a cobblestone plaza outside a grand beige neoclassical building with statues on the roof and cloudy sky above

Group of people gathered among tall concrete blocks at the Holocaust Memorial, Berlin, with city buildings in the background.

German flag waving atop a historic stone building at night, with a glass walkway and people nearby.

Group of students outdoors looking at a large white 3D city model on a table.

Group of students gathered in a long hallway, listening to a man speaking at the left, as ceiling lights and utility panels line the corridor.

Group of students standing in a jail-like room behind metal bars, listening to someone off-camera.

Students seated around a long white worktable, writing on papers during a classroom workshop, with papers hanging from the ceiling installation above them

Three teenage friends sit at a food stand, showing thumbs up and sharing trays of fries at the counter.

View of a city skyline with the Berlin TV Tower on the right, seen from a park with leafless trees; two people with backpacks stand at a railing in the foreground.

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