The recent two-day residential expedition saw our year 4 pupils eagerly turn into explorers and adventurers in this invaluable off-campus educational experience. The journey started with a trip to the Former French Concession, where the children used all five of their senses to interact with the environment around them while journeying back in time to visit buildings from the 1930s. This setting acted as a stimulus for the children to create their own narratives which they created via storyboards and then acted out for their peers. After a busy afternoon of exploring, the children returned to the College to have dinner and set up their tents. This proved to be something of a challenge! However, the children worked very well together in their teams to assemble the tents, showing great collaboration and problem-solving skills.

“Putting up our tents needed team work and good listening skills. We had to work together because there were lots of different parts and we couldn’t have done it alone.”

 – Michael, Kevin and Xander

 

After their temporary accommodation was set up, it was time to reflect on the day and get ready for lights out. The children quickly settled down to sleep after a busy day and thought about what adventures they would embark on the following morning.

“Sharing a tent with my friends was the best moment because we got to reflect on the funny things we did during the trip.”

 – Laila-Rose and Kelly

“We became more independent because we didn't sleep at home.”

 – Annabelle and Georgina

On the second day, we woke up bright and early to tuck into a big breakfast. With bellies full and the excitement of a new day ahead, we piled onto the bus and headed off to the Shanghai Film Park. The pupils explored the recreated set of old Nanjing Dong Lu and began to think of stories to tell from around this time. The children were inspired by the setting and worked hard to think of yet another storyline. Each member of the team was responsible for an important role; director, script writer, costume designer or sound engineer! The pupils quickly rehearsed and then recorded their original movies in various locations around the film park.

“I liked filming the movie because we got to choose our own parts. The film park was awesome because we saw buildings from the past. The iron bridge was from a real movie. We explored the Film Park which was great because we were allowed to be independent and explore it by ourselves.”

 – Albert, Eric and Ethan

The final productions were a great success and demonstrated the children’s imagination and team work.  The films will be edited in class and we look forward to sharing these with parents during the upcoming pupil-led conference. We would like to extend a huge thank you to the Jump Foundation and all the staff in year 4 for helping to make the trip such a great success and giving our pupils a memorable experience. Thank you also to our parents for their continued support in helping the pupils prepare for the trip.   Dean Clayden Year 4 class teacher and group leader