High School: It’s Residentials and Mock Exams Week!

It’s very quiet in the High School today, with Years 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12 having left Bangkok this morning for this year’s Residentials, and only Years 11 and 13, who are working hard during their Mock Exams, left in school.

This year’s Residentials are as follows:

Year 7 are visiting iCAMP in Kanchanaburi where activities taking place will include kayaking, archery, orienteering, a day at Sarasi Camp, a trip to the Thailand-Burma Railway Centre and much more. This is a new Residential, and we are all very excited about this new opportunity for our Year 7 students.

Year 8 are visiting Pranburi, staying at the Milford Paradise Resort. The trip is organised with Wild Planet, who have nearly 20 years’ experience in running school trips and activities taking place will include scuba diving, climbing and abseiling, a beach clean, a trek in Sam Roi Yot National Park and much more. This is a repeat of last year’s very successful new Year 8 Residential.

Year 9 are also visiting Kanchanaburi, staying at the Pung Waan Resort. The visit is being organised with CDR Adventure, a company based in Kanchanaburi with a great deal of experience of school trips and activities taking place will include a low ropes adventure course, kayaking on the River Kwai, hiking, raft building, archery, a navigation race and a trip to Hellfire Pass. This is a repeat of last year’s very successful new Year 9 Residential.

Year 10 have flown to Chiang Mai, camping for three nights in Muang Khong and staying at The Royal Ping Garden and Resort for the final evening. Like the Year 8 Residential, the visit will be organized with Wild Planet, a company with a great deal of experience of school trips, with activities taking place including camping, survival skills, team building, trekking, caving, rock climbing/abseiling, geocaching and a service activity in a local village. This is a repeat of last year’s very successful Year 10 Residential.

Year 12 have flown to Hanoi, in Vietnam and will be staying at Mai Chau Asia Ecolodge. The visit will be organized with Buffalo Tours and activities taking place will include trekking, cooking, embroidery, weaving, cycling and rafting, as well as service work in a local school. This is another new Residential, and we are all very excited about this new opportunity for our Year 12 students.

Residential week is a very important part of the High School curriculum, with each of the programmes offering a range of opportunities for personal and social development. I visited the Year 8, 9 and 10 Residentials last year. These are all great Residentials and we are continuing to work with the external providers to make them even better this year, as well as planning two very exciting new Residentials for Years 7 and 12.

Mr Andrew will be visiting Years 7, 8 and 9 during their Residentials this week. Please keep an eye on the school’s Facebook page for updates from the Residentials throughout the week. Years 7, 9 and 10 have posted updates already...

Once all the students return to school, and complete their Mock Exams, it is only three very busy weeks until the February half-term. I look forward to seeing many of you at Fun Day, St Andrews Presents… and the Year 11 and 13 Parent/Student/Teacher Meetings.

Roo Stenning
Head of High School