BSB Primary Ambitious Week and Trips 2021

Our Primary children recently got to participate in a week of activities based in Beijing as an alternative to our usual residential trips.

• Year 3 had an exciting time exploring the culture of Beijing by visiting the Hutongs, where they made their own tea mixes (learning about the meaning and many different flavours), created their own dumplings and designed their own Beijing opera masks.
• Year 4 had an action-packed session at the Olympic Sailing Centre where they rafted and kayaked and also explored Beijing parks, participating in a variety of activities with the people in them, including using the exercise equipment and having a go at Kung Fu.
• Year 5 investigated the Old Summer Palace - trying not to get lost in the maze, participated in traditional Chinese activities, such as mask making and creating opera costumes. They also had the opportunity to go sailing at The Olympic Sailing Centre.
• Year 6 were fearless as they approached the Via Ferrata (a climbing route that employs steel cables, rungs or ladders, fixed to the rock) and everyone felt a real sense of achievement afterwards. In addition, they experienced Beijing Art District, visiting galleries and completing a scavenger hunt, and went sailing.
• In addition, Years 3, 4 and 5 all visited the Great Wall and walked along this, learning about its history and stories associated with it. The weather was great and a fun time was had by all – though we were all very tired on our way back to school.

Year 1 and 2 also had trips organized and had fabulous experiences:

• Year 1 had a very exciting term, including two very fun trips! In April they visited World Park, where they watched some fantastic shows and saw lots of famous landmarks they had been learning about. In May they visited Chaoyang Park to explore nature, taking part in lots of fun activities, such as building a big hotel, bird’s nests and dinosaurs from natural materials. 
• Year 2 had a scrummy time when they went on their class trip to Annie's pizza restaurant. Donning chef's hats they were taught how to roll dough into a pizza shape (not so easy!) and then were shown how to layer on the ingredients- first tomato sauce and then toppings from a lovely range that included ham, cheese, mushroom, sausage and corn. The pizzas were then whizzed off to be baked and brought back to the children to enjoy their very own handmade lunch. What's not to like about pizza! This was chosen as an activity because it linked nicely into our English 'Instructions' unit and the children went on to complete booklets which included instructions on how to make a pizza.

Overall, it was great to see all of our Primary Students challenging themselves to try new things, learn new things, take risks, succeed and simply have a fabulous time. They truly were ambitious.

We would like to thank all the staff at The Hutong, who helped to create amazing programmes of activities to ensure our children didn’t miss out again this year.

Deborah Spencer

Assistant Head of Primary