Life School Trips
The Northern Lights, Iceland
More
than just a jolly?
what can often feel like a small fortune for them. But just how much value do these trips add to your child’s education? Matthew Christmas, head of history at The
I
Lady Eleanor Holles School in Middlesex is in no doubt. He takes his pupils to the First World War sites of Ypres and the Somme and is also a guide for Anglia Tours, one of the leading battlefi elds school tour companies. “These trips are of enormous benefi t to the girls. When we visit Tyne Cot, the largest Commonwealth cemetery in the world, the row upon row of 12,000 graves literally takes their breath away.” The intensive visits include the trench system
at Bayernwald, the allied frontline town of Poperinge and students lay a wreath at the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate. “The context of the location brings the past to life and we hope that it engenders a real love of history. And of course, we link it to First World War literature, too.
66 FirstEleven Autumn 2011 Following the
t used to be a packed lunch on the coach and a trip to the local museum. Now school trips go to some of the most exciting and unusual places on earth and parents are expected to pay
polar bear tragedy in
Norway, the value of a school trip may seem questionable, but if
schools play it too safe, children can lose out
on an essential learning tool, says Tracy Cook
With Anglia Tours, a lot of their guides are ex-servicemen which also brings the added insight of a soldier’s perspective.” For Olivia Charley, age 14, it was a moving
experience. “Standing in the trenches made it all seem real. Our guide also linked it to soldiers fi ghting today in Afghanistan,” she explains. “We talked a lot about remembrance and reconciliation, especially when we each lit a candle to put on the grave of a German soldier. It defi nitely made me think about the realities of war, in a way that sitting in a classroom can’t.” Ian Pearson, general manager of the School Travel Forum, the school tour operators
group, agrees that trips can be very enriching. “The big diff erence to ten years ago is that there is now more educational content. Teachers are often required to demonstrate that there are clear educational or personal development objectives.” He estimates that there are about 10,000 school trips involving 400,000 children per year and says educational travel has not really been aff ected by the economic downturn, despite costs being anything from a hundred to more than £1,000. But there is much evidence to support the benefi ts of school trips, including the 2010 Government report
www.fi rstelevenmagazine.co.uk
A critical, meaningful life experience lies at the heart of today’s school trip
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