Inspirational learning can sometimes require time spent outside the confines of a classroom, experiencing real world adventures that enables our students to develop as responsible global citizens.
Inspirational learning can sometimes require time spent outside the confines of a classroom, experiencing real world adventures that enables our students to develop as responsible global citizens.
Inspirational learning can sometimes require time spent outside the confines of a classroom, experiencing real world adventures that enables our students to develop as responsible global citizens.
In order for our students to benefit from experiential learning, we carefully plan annual trips to provide a range of age-appropriate yet challenging opportunities to develop personal qualities such as leadership, independence, perseverance and a respect for different cultures through community service programmes and of course physical endeavour. Let's take a look at the 2018 Trips Week Highlights...
It was with great excitement that 126 enthusiastic BIS HCMC Year 7’s embarked on an activity-filled week of zip lining, obstacle races, raft building, archery, rock climbing and much more at the beautiful Forest City resort of Madagui.
This trip is one of personal challenge, adventure, team building and fun as described by Year 7 form tutor Mr Mark Jones, “There was full engagement from our students in all of the activities, and more importantly, friendships being formed and developed as well as respect being given to the Asia Motion team and each other. This was sustained throughout the day and reminded me of why our students at BIS make us proud to be their teachers on a daily basis.”
To see a collection of photographs of the Year 7 Madagui Trip, please click the links below:
This 4 night trip to beautiful Dalat is eagerly anticipated by our Year 8 students. 140 members of staff and students embarked on a range of physical, creative and thrilling activities including abseiling, trekking and rafting as well as camping for a night under the stars.
The students also enjoyed a visit to the children from the Hearing Impaired School, where they were taught basic sign language and got to know the students. They were also able to visit a monastery pagoda to work on the art project which was described by some of the students as their 'favourite part of the trip!'
To see all the photos and daily updates from the trip, please visit the Year 8 Trips Week website.
The Year 9 trip takes place at La Vie Vu Linh, on the shores of Thac Ba lake in Yen Bai province, northern Vietnam. It is a great trip for students to experience new challenges, strengthen friendships, support each other, further develop their own life skills and mostly to come back with some wonderful memories.
Head of Year 9, Mr Porter described the student’s second day at the lake. “We have had a fantastic day today. Students have been kayaking, rock climbing, trekking, doing a community project and also mountain biking. Every member of staff came back to the accommodation this evening with massive praise for the children, with only positive comments about how fantastic they have been.”
To see a collection of photographs from the Year 9 Thac Ba Lake Trip, please click the links below:
On Monday morning, 123 excited Year 10 students and 12 members of staff set off enroute to Hong Kong. This trip is an incredible opportunity to see 3 distinctly different sides to Hong Kong providing outdoor learning experiences as well as enlightening cultural and environmental adventures. Our Year 10 Trips Committee wrote a few words describing their adventures:
"The day tour to Hong Kong gave us a brief history of the urban side of this iconic city. This was a great experience and we were able to see multiple different sides to the city that we have never seen before. Walking around Victoria Peak was an amazing experience and enabled us to look over the beautiful panoramic view of the city.
The next day we took the boat to Lamma Island. After a substantial breakfast we completed the initial 6 km loop walk, taking in the beautiful coastal views in the bright sunshine. After lunch we trekked to the north of the island and relaxed on a sunkissed beach before the short final walk through the village to take the ferry back to Hong Kong. We arrived back in camp with tired legs but a real sense of accomplishment having completed the days trekking.
The third day of our trip was survival day at the camp. We began the morning with a brief demonstration of building a shelter and then had to build our own using a few basic materials and anything else we could get our hands on. This proved challenging and forced us to really work as a team. It also stretched us creatively and required an innovative approach to solve the problem."
To see all the photos from the Hong Kong trip, please click here.
Congratulations to the four Year 12 students who completed their PADI Advanced Open Water Diver Course this week in Puerto Galera and well done to all students who are relatively new to diving and are able to now call themselves certified divers! Fantastic achievements all round.
This is an extremely rewarding trip in many ways, described by two of Year 12 students Victoria and Annie: "After a long needed sleep, we woke up energized, engaged and empowered for the eventful day ahead. After a scrumptious breakfast, the open water group, bursting with enthusiasm, took their first breath underwater while the advanced group navigated the depths of the ocean via compass. Later on in the day, the open water group were practicing essential diving skills and the advanced divers were saving the environment (yay!) through a Dive against Debris in collaboration with Project AWARE. They collected 3kg of trash, including 2 pipes, instant noodles packaging, 3 bottles and 2 soda cans! After this magnificent day we wound down though conversation, games and food - looking forward to the adventures waiting ahead."
To read all the daily updates from the trip, please visit the Year 12 Diving website.
The International Award is a programme of personal development for young people aged between 14 and 25. For our Year 12’s this means they have the unique opportunity to climb to the peak of the Bidoup mountain!
International Award Co-odinator Alex Essery describes the team’s adventures on the last day of the trip, “We have successfully completed the International Award expedition to Bidoup mountain, reaching the peak at 2280m after 4 days of challenging trekking and cycling. The students have shown great perseverance, independence and team spirit and are enjoying a well-deserved hot shower, dinner and hotel tonight after 3 nights camping! Well done to the whole group.”
To see more photos from this trip, please click here.
For more information on the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award, please click here.
The Year 12 Kon Tum adventure is a Service and Adventure trip. This amazing visit engages students with two day of visits to four different orphanages in the area, where our students interact and play with the children. During this trip students partake in a trek with a visit to the beautiful Kon Kotu homestay, enjoy local entertainment and experience the serenity that Kon Tum has to offer.
Mr Dace reflects on Day 1 of the Kon Tum trip, “In the morning we enjoyed a museum visit and a guided tour of the town, learning about the local people. The afternoon was spent at Vin Son orphanage, where BIS students involved children in a range of activities including painting, bracelet making, ball games and dancing.”
To see all the photos from the trip, please visit the Year 12 Kon Tum website.
A group of Year 12 students made the trip from Ho Chi Minh City to Phong Nha Quang Binh for an incredible few days at the Tu Lan caves where they participated in a range of activities designed to promote team building skills as well as building their personal confidence.
Ms Tang-Hales described the visit, "The trip was amazing! Students participated in team building activities nestled between mountains and a river, learned to build a fire, tie knots and purify water using materials easily available and spent an afternoon kayaking and cycling around a village close to the cave region. They also trekked, explored caves, swam and camped for 3 days. I was really impressed by everyone's speed and positivity."
To see all the photos from the trip, please click here.
The Year 12 trip to Chiang Rai aims to develop a sense of awe and wonder related to the natural environment around Chiang Rai, near the Thai/Myanmar border. It also gives our students the opportunity to increase their awareness of the complex and interconnected social and environmental issues experienced in this region as well as developing new skills such as leadership and personal development through team building and adventurous activities, as described by Alice and Cat Tien:
"The Confidence Course was a novel experience for us. The challenges involved walking across a metal chain while holding onto another rope above our heads, jumping over to the 2nd base by hanging onto a vertically-hanging rope, balancing ourselves on the long-slippery metal beam and finally hanging onto either the monkey bars or the swinging rings. There were notable moments that demonstrated the perseverance of our friends, like how at first try, all of us fell into the water (which was icy cold), but through trials and errors, most of us got halfway across the course. People who were on the sides were cheering on and giving instructions to the ones that are visibly struggling to keep themselves from falling. Another moment, which is probably the most memorable one out of all, might be when Minh Thu almost fell near the metal bar, but hung on and somehow by sheer determination, slowly crawled to the end of it upside down instead of walking on the bar. She didn’t make it to the last challenge but it was great to see that she tried her very best!"
To see all the photos and daily updates from the trip, please visit the Year 12 Chiang Rai website.
Each of our residential trips are dedigned to develop key life skills, to show progression and provide continuity with classroom learning. In a recent article by Nord Anglia Education’s Head of Expeditions David Wall he said, “Experiential learning allows students to interact with real world problems and issues that are difficult to simulate in many classrooms. Our expeditions promote and develop skills that are not taught by many curriculums but hold great value for our students in their future lives such as flexible thinking, resourcefulness, resilience and much more.”
BIS HCMC students are arriving home from their Trips Week with a deeper understanding of the world around them, understanding the complex interrelationships between global issues from a range of perspectives and equipped with a host of skills including leadership, teamwork, perserverance and above all; ambition.
#BeAmbitious
We are incredibly proud of our Year 11 class of 2024, for their impressive IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) results. This incredible cohort of 155 students, our largest IGCSE class in the history of the school, have significantly surpassed UK and international averages and were awarded 97% of all grades at A*-C. An incredible 62% of all grades awarded were at A*-A.
