Olympic site - 1/2 day on the cheap with AS students - advice?

[NT]

Any ideas? Everything I have looked at so far is way too expensive (FSC, Viewtube), so this has to be free views or virtually free. I have a tiny group so hopefully we won't draw attention anywhere. I'm also looking for somewhere to stay in East London so any advice very much welcome. I have downloaded plenty of background and photos, but the walking routes etc I have are not up to date, and access has changed. I want the focus to be on regeneration not tourism, so I guess Westfield needs a look too. Unfortunately I am not going to get a recce visit in first either though I used to know the area a bit. Thanks so much for any advice!

[Blue Square Thing]

This is from todays Guardian - and you can even link it in to foursquare (whatever the hell that does...)

It looks pretty good craic actually - perfect for what you need I reckon: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/london-2012-olympics-blog/interactive/2012/feb/20/olympic-park-alternative-tour

[Victoria]

Unless it's changed, you can still go to the ViewTube without actually having to pay for a talk.  You get a pretty good view of the Olympic site just from the Greenway, and the cafe is lovely.  If the classroom is not being used, you can go upstairs to the viewing platform.  I took a group a couple of years ago and got the DLR to Pudding Mill Lane and then to Stratford where we had a bit of a look round, a look at a big model of the proposed developments (Olympic Village and development/regeneration of Stratford) which was in the Library (not sure if it's still there now) and students did some questionnaires, environmental quality assessments, etc.

I don't know how much it cost, but our PE department have just had a day trip to the Olympic Village and a good number have told me that I'd have liked it because it was much more about Geography than PE!  I can try and find out a bit more about what they did tomorrow if that would help.

[NT]

Thank you that would be so great! I don't know anyone who has been recently at all. I wish I could go before, but it's not possible. We only have half a day to spend there so I want to keep it very focused! Thanks very much!

[Graham]

One of the best views of the Olympic Site is from John Lewis in the Stratford Westffield Centre on the third floor. The Olympic Shop is there- try and ring their Events Department in advance they will probably give the students a talk.