Trips – learning through experience
At Garden International School trips form a very important part of our curriculum. The
range of trips available to the students is vast as well as being tailored to compliment and
enhance their learning experience in the classroom.
There is little point going on a school trip where nothing educational is to be gained by the
children. With this in mind at Garden International School we try to ensure that the trip is
well researched before hand, that it is not repeated too often and that there is an
educational benefit to the children going on the trip.
This year, in the Primary and Foundation sections of G.I.S, every year group from our Early
Years to Year 6 went on at least one trip. In addition, the children in Years 3 to 6 were
offered the opportunity to go on a residential trip, where they spent the night away from
home. We consider residential trips to be the most beneficial for the children as they learn
more about themselves, they learn to be more independent and they have the chance to
develop or hone their social interaction with their peers – all needed life skills.
The following are a selection of reports on trips that our children took part in over the last
academic year.
Mr. Robert Grisdale
GIS Head of Primary
Khao Kheow Open Zoo
All the Years from Year 1 to Year 6 went to Khao Kheow Open Zoo. We saw tigers (whoa!),
anteaters (awesome!) and pigs (ewwww!). When the bus stopped we went to see the tigers.
There was one walking up and down right beside the windows, like it was following us! Then
we went to see the hippos. We got to feed them. It was like basketball practice because
they were in the water and we were trying to throw cucumbers into their open mouths.
When we were done feeding the hippos we went to feed the giraffes. They like beans so we
put one in front of a giraffe and he grabbed it with his long purple tongue. It was very
strong! After that we went to see the animal show. It was great! We saw eagles and hawks
and when a snake came out from behind us we screamed! After the show we had lunch in the
playground and played for a while. Then we got back in the school buses and came
home. By: Mackenzie and Shazriq (Year 6B)
YMCA
The children from Years 1, 2, 3 and 4 went to the
local YMCA and had a fantastic time. The photos show the range
of activities that they did and the fun that they had.
Rayong Aquarium (Nursery Trip)
No guessing why the touch pool was the favourite with our 4 year olds on our recent field
trip to Rayong Aquarium!! Using all our modes of learning we touched, talked, questioned,
gazed and imagined our way around the excellent facility all morning before having lunch and
then... time for a sleep on the bus trip home.
The field experience was designed to fit into the students' current unit on Water and
Water Animals. It has certainly generated a lot of healthy inquiry among the children and
empathy for sea creatures.
Sports Trips - FOBISSEA
The members of the Year 4-6 FOBISSEA team have returned from Malaysia where they
have been very successfully competing on our behalf. The children had a great deal of fun as
well as performing excellently at the sporting events. This year's team performed
extremely well considering only 10 athletes made the trip. Over the three days of
competition, GIS won a total of 52 medals (16 Gold, 14 Silver and 22 Bronze), including two
team Gold medals in Girls Football and Tee Ball. The students were a credit to the school
and showed great sportsmanship in all sports. It was a pleasure to accompany them to the
games and they were brilliantly behaved during at all times. Congratulations to all the
athletes.
Year 2 trip to the Turtle Conservation Centre
Year 2 have been learning about living and non-living things. Both classes have enjoyed
keeping snails as class pets. They also visited the Turtle Conservation Centre in
Sattahip.
Other examples of trips that our children took part in were: the Early Years trip to the
beach as part of their unit on ‘Transport’; the Year 2 trip to Ban Chang as part of their
‘Local Study’ unit; the Reception trip to the Rayong Aquarium as part of their science topic
on ‘Animals in the Sea’ and the big Year 4-6 residential trip to the ‘Buffalo Village’ which
was a Thai Culture trip. We also travel to our Bangkok campus to support their theatre
performances and to compete with them at sports.