From Key Stage 3, all Regents’ students spend one week off campus on a residential trip in Thailand. On the surface, these residential trips may only seem like fun excursions, but what most people don’t know is that great consideration has gone into planning these experiences to best suit the personal and emotional development of students while putting their lives into context. As part of Nord Anglia Education and through our membership with Round Square, Regents has developed a residential programme that values experiential learning as part of a well-rounded curriculum which educates the whole child.
Experiential learning is an integral part of our educational philosophy at Regents. It empowers children in a way that guided, dependent work does not. Children are able to pursue their own areas of interest and solve problems as they occur. Their learning becomes relative to their own interests and thus, can produce higher levels of focus and concentration.
Last week all Key Stage 3 students left school for the week to take part in Outdoor Education Week. Here is a recap from each of the Year groups on what they got up to during the week.
The Year 7s were taken to The Pine Resort, located in Pathum Thani, to the north of Bangkok. Mr. Moore (Head of Year 7) was incredibly proud of the whole year group after witnessing the courage, tenacity and enthusiasm shown by students to get involved in every activity.
"The students immediately got stuck into some team games; from solving puzzles to catching water balloons, playing volleyball with a sheet, to wondering why the bamboo goes up. Everyone had fun working with different people and developing their communication skills.”
One of the main objectives of the trip was to take students out of their comfort zone to speak to other classmates they may have never spoken to before and challenge themselves to face their fears and take on different activities.
"Wow, talk about Outdoor Education. Mountain biking; completed. Kayaking; completed. Building and racing homemade raft; completed. A crazy action-packed day ending with ice cream by the lake.
The Year 7 students have been amazing trying a range of activities and discovering the true meaning of 'there's no I can't, there's only I can't yet!”
There were some incredible stories from day 2 of the trip where students demonstrated their bravery to face the unknown. There were a lot of nervous faces as there were students who were not confident cycling and others that were scared to go into the lake. Those fears were nowhere to be seen as soon as the students reached the lake and by the end of the day when they had to return to the resort, both the event staff and the Regents’ teachers struggled to get the students out of the lake.
"Another day, another load of activities designed to push Year 7 outside of their comfort zone. We ran across water, climbed a 50ft wall and completed plenty of team building games. However, for many the highlight was seeing Mr. Moore fall into the lake!”
"Today was all about nature's elements.
FIRE - making a campfire using just a flint and items found nearby.
WATER - learning to filter lake water into drinking water just using items found nearby.
EARTH - creating a shelter suitable for sleeping just using items found nearby.
AIR- feeling the wind in our hair as we kayak, paddle-board and 'tube' on the lake.
A fantastic day, ending with a reflection about how far we have come and how we can build on this experience."
The Year 8s travelled all the way to iCamp in Kanchanaburi province for their Outdoor Education programme.
"After a long journey on Monday, Year 8 arrived at iCamp Thailand for a late lunch and orientation. We were straight out at 3pm to visit the Duang Prateep Foundation.
We spent the afternoon re-painting their playground equipment and studentskindly donated some sporting equipment including various balls, a multipurpose net and some badminton equipment. We spent the remainder of the afternoon with the children of the foundation playing football, badminton and other games." Head of Year 8, Ms Thexton.
"Tuesday was a full on day! We started with a hearty breakfast followed by survival skills. The Year 8s learnt some first aid, and camp craft. We built shelters and managed to make fire (with no matches!). This was followed in the afternoon with six team building and problem solving tasks, involving spiders webs, blindfolds and some wooden skis to name a few. We then had a quick change into our wet gear. Lots of fun with water activities/relays, finishing with a great hour on the inflatable floating obstacle course. We then finished the evening seeing who has the best moves on the dance floor."
“What a day! Feats of Tenacity, bundles of courage and plenty of fun! Year 8 have been fabulous today. We spent the morning climbing, flying down zip wires and paint balling. The awesome afternoon was spent on the water bamboo rafting. We are heading back for a later dinner and, if we can keep our eyes open, a challenging quiz night.”
"Today, Year 8 have been showing their commitment to sustainability. During our second community project of the week, we looked at agriculture and sustainable farming. We have made earth bricks, mud bricks and charcoal sticks. Year 8 have learnt about organic farming, grafting and replanting fruit trees and rice planting. It has been a very educational day! This evening we finish off a fabulous week with a movie night."
For their Outdoor Education trip, the Year 9s travelled to Rayong for the week. Head of Sports and Enrichment, Mr Phil Bond, led the trip.
"On their first day, the students spent the afternoon paddle boarding, sea swimming, cycling, beach running and playing team building games. Some also opted to learn how to make traditional Thai desserts."
"Today, our year 9 students are busy experiencing a variety of activities including paddle boarding, raft building, shelter building, bush craft and cycling at Rayong Botanic Wetlands Garden."
Today on their Outdoor Education trip, our Year 9 students are getting up close on a boat tour of the Wetlands Botanical Garden in Rayong, in which they are learning about biodiversity, preservation of the environment, and local plant and animal life.
"At Regents we embrace the wonders of Thai culture and make the most of the amazing environment of our host country. The students have been making traditional Thai ice cream and playing beach volleyball before dinner."
On the Year 9 Outdoor Education trip in Rayong, students have been participating in paddle boarding, cycling, bush craft skills and raft building.
Mr Bond says: "After a long day of adventurous activities, what better way for our students to spend time together than a team quiz event?!"
At Regents, our specialist staff are experts at creating personalised support programmes for students with additional educational needs. That’s why, throughout October we are celebrating Dyslexia and ADHD Awareness Month.
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