Field Trips and the Great Outdoors

Field trips and the Great Outdoors

Our Environmental Wilderness Campus (EWC) has proved even more valuable over the past few months, allowing for continued field trips to take place, even during COVID-19. Our students have been able to get outdoors and travel safely and securely.

Opened in January 2018, the campus is home to our ISB Wild Panthers Program and has hosted artists and athletics retreats, parent visits, Board of Trustees retreats, and more. Although not yet open to groups outside of International School Bangkok (ISB), the hope is to be able to welcome corporate retreats, visiting schools, and other outside organizations to use the facilities.

 
The setting, right on the edge of a beautiful reservoir in a remote location in Phetchaburi, makes it the ideal place for an out-of-city excursion for students and adults alike to kayak, hike, rock climb, and find time to decompress in nature.

Enriching local communities.

The EWC is also centered within the Nonyaplong village, where, in keeping with ISB’s vision to enrich communities, ISB and our students support the local community in various ways. Most of this work is done through ISB’s Service Foundation, After the Wave. Their program, Service in the Wild, helps raise funds for the education, health care, and basic necessities for many families living in the community.

The value of outdoor education is well-researched, and qualities such as resilience, problem-solving, and confidence are but a few of the benefits seen in children involved in these programs. The experiential learning built into the outdoor education program is the same style of teaching and learning that ISB cultivates on campus. The experience of using learned skills in the outdoors is fortifying as well as fun for our learners.

After two years of operation, the ISB Environmental Wilderness Campus has proven to be a valuable addition to ISB’s programs and facilities. It has been well utilized, and has had student groups moving through it regularly within each school year, with children aged 9 through to 18 enjoying what the center, and the surroundings, have to offer.

In the coming year, we look forward to opening the center to more students, organizations, and programs.

Would you be interested in visiting or renting the Environmental Wilderness Campus? Let us know here!