I am sure that I am not the only parent who can still remember school trips that I went on when I was at school. When the details of what was taught in lessons in school have long faded, students will still remember some of the smallest details of a trip that they went on. This is one of the reasons why educational visits are an important part of the programme we offer here at
TBS.
At the beginning of this week, our victorious team returned from the Nord Anglia Education
European Tournament in Bratislava, celebrating winning seven of the eight sporting events
and therefore the overall Championship. They had clearly had a fantastic and hugely rewarding
time. Meanwhile, on Thursday and Friday this week, Y9 students are on a two day History trip to Krakow and Auschwitz. This is obviously a very different type of trip to the Bratislava one; a lot more sombre but just as important to the all-round education of the students. In addition, at the end of June, we all have Green Camp to look forward to, once the school exams are finished, with outdoor education opportunities that are not available to us in Warsaw.
Practising a sport is important for progress and improvement, but a real competition is the goal. Studying about an historical site in the classroom is important, but not the same as the experience of visiting the site.
As well as the subject specific dimensions of a school visit, there are also huge personal and social development opportunities. Our children need to learn about packing and unpacking, looking after their possessions and bringing them home again. They need to apply all the small, but important, personal organisation lessons that we have taught them. They need to practise skills of social interaction in new contexts outside the familiar surroundings of the classroom and the home. We know that all these skills will be needed in a few years’ time when our children leave home.
For all these reasons, and more, a variety of trips and visits is a key part of a good secondary
school education. We know that the students learn from the experiences and we are grateful to the teachers who give up their time to make these events happen.