Cambodia Trip (TH)

This September, twenty five Year 9 students and three members of staff travelled to Cambodia to take part in a joint History, Art and Geography field trip. The trip was an exciting opportunity for the students to take part in a residential trip overseas, during which they would be able to apply what they have been learning in their International Middle Years Curriculum (IMYC) lessons in the real world.

During the trip, students got to visit the world-famous UNESCO sites of Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples. There was a lot of walking involved and despite quite a bit of rain, students worked hard and stayed cheerful throughout. Highlights of the temple visits included counting the smiling faces at Bayon, exploring the overgrown ruins of Preah Khan and climbing the steep stairs to the top of Pre Rup.

As well as exploring the sights, students had the opportunity to do Geography field work around the town of Siem Reap and they were even brave enough to conduct surveys with tourists from all around the world, all in English. Some lovely sketches were done of statues and temples, despite the weather making it a little tricky to draw outside. A visit to the National Museum on the final day helped students get a better understanding of the history of the Khmer Empire and gave them the chance to try out their sketching skills again.

Students really enjoyed tasting Khmer food in the evenings and a highlight of the trip was a visit to the Phare Cambodian circus, which helps young people out of poverty and addiction by training them in circus skills. The students were all amazed by the acrobatics and stunts that were performed.

It was sad leaving Siem Reap on the final day as the trip so much fun and everyone got to know each other even better than before. Students should be very proud of their attitude, effort and behaviour during the trip. They were an excellent group of youngsters to spend four days with and the teachers involved all had a fantastic time. We hope the students will have fond memories of their time in Siem Reap for many years to come.