College of North West London (CNWL) students recently received a fascinating insight into the rich heritage of the nation's favourite chocolate brand as they went on a trip to Cadbury World in Bournville Village, Birmingham.

Students from Level 3 BTEC National Extended Diploma in Applied Science enjoyed their tour around the factory and a 4D Chocolate Adventure cinema experience. The excursion was aimed at bringing the Unit 4 Chemistry curriculum to life with an engaging curriculum-linked talk which focused on areas such as:

• Discovering the origins of chocolate and how cocoa beans are processed prior to arrival in the UK
• Focusing on manufacturing, quality assurance and research
• Explore the stages of new product development; looking at how Science plays an important role in the creation of new products
• Understanding the process of sensory evaluation and how it affects both new product development as well as ensuring the consistency of our established product lines
• Compare the methods of manufacturing and how they are utilised for different products

So what was the verdict from the students on their golden ticket experience at the chocolate factory? Here’s some of the comments…

“It was an amazing experience as not only were we having fun, but we also got to learn many new things about such a huge universal company/industry”

“I found it so fascinating to see and learn the numerous things that go into making chocolate. We got to learn interesting facts and we also got to smell the coco beans that are used to make the chocolate which was handed out to everyone”

“This experience had multiple joyful memories, such as the ride, tasting the chocolate, being able to write our names with chocolate as well. The most memorable and enjoyable part was the 4D cinema”