Our Residential Trips programme extends our curriculum to offer students experiences designed to be fun, challenging, inspiring, and motivating. Living and working with others brings out the best in everyone and, through service projects in China and further afield, our students see how life looks through other people’s eyes.
Students bond with each other and their teachers, they also learn a lot about themselves as they are faced with changeable situations and challenges. It’s education that can’t come from books and lectures.
All Residentials in Primary and Secondary school are organised by professional tour companies. The companies provide expert guides for all facets of the trips. Briefings for parents are given in the weeks leading up to the trips. Teachers also do a pre-inspection of the destinations prior to the Residentials going ahead.
THE PRIMARY PROGRAMME
Year 2 – Overnight Adventure Sleepover in School
The children have dinner and games with their teachers and TAs, followed by a movie and a sleepover in school. (1 night)
Year 3 – Beijing Countryside
Students travel to the Jinshanling section of the Great Wall in the mountains. They hike up to the Wall and spend some time walking between watch towers, learning about how and why the Wall was built. The following day the students split into groups and complete a number of team- building and personally challenging activities. They visit Yaoqiaoyu Village to discover more about village life. (2 nights/3 days)
Year 4 - PingYao
This ancient walled city of PingYao, east of Beijing, is the destination for this four-night expedition. Students learn about temples, Kung Fu and the ancient past and development of the city. We will also take advantage of this amazing city by exploring the city walls, temples and an underground castle. (4 nights/5 days)
Year 5 - Xi’an
Having studied the 1st Emperor of China, Qin, the children visit to see for themselves the remains of the great settlements and complexes around Xi’An. The children have guided tours of features of the Qin and Han dynasties, including ½ day at the Terracotta Warriors and an archaeological excavation. We also visit an imperial garden from the Tang Dynasty and attend a hike in the Chinese countryside. Our visit ends with a treasure hunt through the Shan Xi history museum. (4 nights/5 days)
Year 6 – Si Du, South-West Beijing
Si Du is a couple of hours drive from school and literally translates to Four Ferry Crossing. It is the perfect setting for an outdoor adventure residential and will give children the chance to challenge themselves, learn new skills and more importantly have fun. It will also give the children the perfect opportunity to improve their team work and practise collaborating with their peers. The skills learnt on this trip will help prepare the children for secondary and ease their transition into Year 7. The children will be taking part in activities such as kayaking, camping, climbing and dragon boat racing. All the activities are led by fully qualified instructors where safety is of the highest concern. Fast and furious, a great end to their Primary education. (4 nights/5 days)
THE SECONDARY PROGRAMME
Each Residential in Secondary school is a 4 night/5 day adventure focusing on four key outcomes:
Education - history, culture, biology, geology, environment, anthropology
Outdoor Education - mountain biking, kayaking, abseiling, camping, snorkelling
Community Engagement - local school interaction, community service, conservation
Team Building - communication, cooperation, consideration, coordination
The destinations for each year group are as follows for 2018:
Year 7 - Shangdong
Year 8 - Guangdong
Year 9 - Fujian
Year 10 - Northern Yunnan
Year 11 - Sichuan
Year 12 - Tanzania (see below)
Year 13 - ZheJiang Mountain Retreat (Tonglu & Hangzhou)
The Expedition to Tanzania
Each year, Year 12 students from The British School of Beijing, Shunyi participated in an expedition to Tanzania where they were engaged in helping a local orphanage/ school and the community. Their work included teaching and playing with the children and building goat sheds in the community for underprivileged families so that they could support themselves.
The students returned from the trip having what they described as a life changing experience.
2014 Tanzania Trip click here
2015 Tanzania Trip click here
2016 Tanzania Trip click here and here
2017 Tanzania Trip click here
SCHOOL VISITS
Throughout the year, various field trips within Beijing are organised to consolidate learning. The list is extensive and often change year-by-year but includes activities such as hiking, visiting restaurant kitchens, the aquarium, museums, embassies and factories.
As with the residentials, teachers are required to make a pre-visit to the venue before the field trip takes place. Parents are also required to fill out a permission form which includes contact and medical information.