Trip to Thailand. Maekok River Village Resort in Chiangrai, Thailand

Parents and students might have noticed that quite a few students and a few teachers were not at school last week. This is because 20 of our MYP and Senior students were on an educational trip in Thailand. They were away from Xi’an for a full week and did many activities related to fitness, confidence and team building, and workshops in subject areas such as science, geography, history, and anthropology.  Students were busy with so many events at the educational camp that we do not have space to describe them all here! Some highlights included archery, wall climbing, biking, hiking, kayaking, and visits to mountain villages, an orange orchard, a night market, and jungle habitats.   A daily blog of activities was maintained by Mr Gallerno, Mrs Gillick, and Mr Donkin, who accompanied the students on the trip. A DVD of hundreds of photos and lots of video taken in Thailand will be produced soon by Mr Gallerno and given to everyone who went to Thailand.

After we returned, Mr Gallerno asked the students to give their impression of the trip in one word. Here are some of the answers: exciting, brilliant, challenging, interesting, fantastic, adventurous, fun, and tiring.  All in all, it was a very enjoyable and highly educational trip for everyone.   Please see later in the newsletter for some other photos of the trip to Thailand.

Some of the trip activities included comparing observations for agricultural field study, fun and games at a Bamboo Club, students showing great determination on the "confidence course", a mountain village anthropology workshop, kayak safety training, a "high ropes" challenge, crossing the river to get to the jungle and much more.

Air Quality. Parents may have realised that the students were not allowed out at break times on Monday and there was no outside PE.  This is because the air quality index for Xi’an on the site we use to measure air pollution (http://aqicn.org/city/xian/) was above 300. It is always a balance when considering the well being of every student.  This depends on the individual child and their need for exercise outdoors, especially when they are young, and the possible detrimental effects of breathing in less than clean air.

Parents may request their child to be kept in where we have air filters if the index is between 200 and 300.  Of course, you may send your child to school with a face mask if you wish. 

Best regards,

Martin Hughes

 

Forthcoming events

Thursday, 4^th and Friday, 5^th   School closed for staff training and Qingming festival holiday

Monday, 8^th to Friday, 12^th     Middle and Senior Years Exam week

Friday, 19^th April                        Sports Day

Friday, 19^th April                        Exam results sent home