Year 10 and 11 - extracurricular day/evening trips

[thelaundryfairy]

I am a secondary school teacher and next term I will be taking over from a colleague organising non-compulsory trips, usually in the evenings, for students in Years 10 and 11. We are allowed to go during the school day, but it´s preferred if it can be done after school (or at the weekend). The trips have to be of some educational benefit so the theme park, the water park and the shopping mall are out!

Last term, there was a trip to a classical music concert, a trip to watch ballet and a guided tour of the city´s archaeological museum.

Ideas I have for this coming term (based on what´s on in our city) include a guided tour of a large architectural practice, a trip to the planetarium, an exhibition of Roman sculptures, and a production of "West Side Story".

Please, if your children are around this age, ask them where they´d be interested in going, or let me know your own suggestions.

Thank you so much.

My Y10 DD said Roman sculptures, but thinks most of her friends would say West Side Story. She also said the planetarium sounds okay, but the Architectural one sounds boring!

Thanks so much!

Does she have any other ideas of places she or her friends or peers would like to visit?

'Museums and stuff, I dunno' was the helpful comment I've just prised out of her!!
We live in the middle of nowhere so I think it's quite hard to think of places to visit if you don't know what's available. We have a seal sanctuary, a natural seal beach, where hundreds of seal come to give birth at this time of year but not much else!

Thanks, we live in a big European city (abroad) so we do have plenty of museums, art galleries, concerts and things going on.We had a very good level of interest in the three excursions last time, but I worry that not all students´ tastes and interests are catered to.

I picked out the architectural thing on one of the city culture pages I was looking at online as Art is very popular GCSE subject at our school and Architecture is quite a popular choice of university course for our students so I thought it might appeal to a different group than the classical music and ballet we´ve offered so far.

Mine would want to go to see West Side Story although we'd probably already have tickets so I wouldn't then book them on school trip as well.

none of the rest would really appeal.
By that age, it needs to be linked to what they are doing in their exams - so, if they were doing history, then maybe there would be something that the historians would want to go to, but if they weren't, then I doubt there'd be a lot of enthusiasm. If they are the sort of dc who'd be interested, then it's more than likely they've already been to anywhere interesting in your home City. If they haven't then it's probably because they aren't interested.

Why is West Side Story educational.

Military museum, especially a tank museum. Much discussion to follow on how big the rounds are that can be fired & how constructed & how far they go. Which tanks had the best combo of armour & how fast could they go, & why having the right strategy & tanks meant who won which battle or even which war.

ps: we did the viewing of massive numbers of baby seals on beach the other day, too!! But that was with a 10yo, not a yr10.

Trip to a nearby university?

YeOldeTrout - it's not, it's just my favourite musical

No, I suppose you could look at it as an interpretation of Romeo and Juliet if you were studying Shakespeare and different presentations of the story ??

West Side Story is educational because Bernstein is one of the great 20th century composers, Sondheim is arguably the greatest 20th Century lyricist and the choices made in the adaptation of the Shakespeare plot offers lots of food for discussion in follow-up literature lessons.

But my DS would kill for a trip to a tank museum.

Any experience you wouldn't have otherwise is "educational". At my ds's school they try to organize trips to any show that's on locally, because a significant chunk of the kids will not have ever been to any sort of live show.

Apologies, I think I may have misled by saying the trips have to be educational. We have end of term trips to the theme park, water park, bowling, etc. so those would not be offered by this particular programme, however, anything else is worth considering. The trips certainly don´t have to be related to our curriculum. The idea is to offer "cultural" (broadly speaking) experiences that parents may struggle to provide in a busy family routine or students will enjoy more by going with their friends, plus some of our students are boarders so won´t necessarily have seen much of the city´s "culture". The trips are all optional, but so far have proved popular.

Thanks to everybody for all of the ideas. We do have an army base near us so I will be contacting them about a visit, YeOldeTrout, thanks for the suggestion.

BertrandRussell We do visit the local universities with the whole year group but I will look out for any events going on at the universities that we could offer as an extracurricular excursion, thanks again.

Asked my DC and (sorry) those 3 suggestions sound soooo boring. He says at worst maybe the girls will be into the west side story, but not the boys. Something more interactive would probably be more interesting for KS4. At-Bristol is very good, loads of stuff in London, the Eden Project in Cornwall, Magna Centre in Yorkshire, Spaceport in mersyside etc etc etc.

so its all about where your at.

Thanks Bolognese, really appreciate it. I will search around for more interactive places...from what I have found so far they are more for infant or primary school aged children but I hope we can come up with something. One of the local hospitals has an interactive lab for students once each month but unfortunately they have to be 16 which means only a few of our Year 11s are eligible. Thank you again and to your children.

Dd would go for the ballet & West Side Story.

My DD would choose West Side Story first followed by the plantarian. She would be interested in something architectural, but not sure she'd give up her time. I know a classical music concert has been done, but my DD would be first on the list every time, but would love lots of music based things. Can you think of something involving sport for those who enjoy sporty activities?

If you struggle coming up with ideas, would it be in order for the students to have a box to put their ideas in?

My DD would choose West Side Story/Ballet, DS would prefer to see a sporting fixture. You say you are in a major European City - do you have access to athletics/gymnastic/hockey events not just the footie fixtures?

I think it's a great idea for these events to be organised via a school to offer broad access to cultural activities as families may find it easier to buy a ticket for 1 person rather than having to get 2 or more for a 'family'.

Another idea: could you do a guided themed walking tour of your city or main buildings? Or:
Do you have access to a parliament building or a city courtroom? My DC have been on trips to London to the Houses of Parliament and the Old Bailey with their schools and really enjoyed the experiences.

My DD is in Sixth Form, and they do a termly trip to a theatre in London. They take one coach, and it is always sold out.

Would second the idea of a sporting fixture to widen interest.

I remember at that age going for a tour of our local police station which I found fascinating at the time. Also tour around the local newspaper with printing presses etc.

May be an idea to get people in to give talks, if that would be allowed instead of a trip. My DD has been to talks by the local MP, by a parent about his job, by a teacher about a TV programme, by a pupil about their diet (vegan). Lots of scope!

DS2 would go for planetarium and architecture practice tour. He has been to Rome with school and gets dragged around the British Museum whenever we're in London so would probably give the sculptures a miss. He'd have no interest in West Side Story but would go to the theatre if something good on. We're lucky to get lots of NT live links at our local so he's seen lots of Shakespeare, Of Mice and Men, Curious Incident, etc.. He's now yr11, oh and to second yeolde upthread, Bovington Tank Museum is still his most favourite place and he insists, still, on an annual visit

Museum late night openings are good. Very different and "grown up" atmosphere.
I went to Romeo and Juliet at the theatre st that age and finally understood that Shakespeare could be performed to make sense!
What about arthouse film too? Have you a local indie cinema? Ideally take them to something with subtitles that they'd never choose themselves.
Also, talks by travellers / adventurers are great and may inspire exciting gap years. I'm thinking people like Mark Beaumont.