World is their classroom

Rotorua Intermediate students will be going to Italy to follow in the footsteps of the Maori 28th Battalion. PHOTO/ STEPHEN PARKER

It wasn't that long ago that school trips involved a day at the beach or a week camping at Waiotapu. But this year students from Rotorua will jet off around the globe as part of a new era of school trips. Rebecca Malcolm finds out more.

Packing her bags for a school trip has a whole new meaning for Jasmine Clarke.

It won't be just a case of checking she has enough clothes, the Western Heights Primary School 10-year-old has to make sure she's got her passport and boarding pass as she prepares to head to Vanuatu.

She and fellow young leaders at the school are among dozens of Rotorua students heading overseas this year as school trips take on a new, and much more global, approach.
And it's not like the old days where only students taking languages might get the opportunity to head overseas to practise them in their final years of study. These days students are hopping on planes from primary school level to countries as diverse as China and Italy.

Western Heights Primary School principal Brent Griffin introduced the idea of an overseas trip about 12 years ago - and since then it has become a goal of many students at the school.

Each year students selected for the school's leadership programme head away. They've been to the Gold Coast and Hawaii but this year they'll return to one of the favourite spots, Vanuatu.

Brent says the trip is something students aim for from their early years at the school - and it is far from a beach holiday.

The learning happens all the way from the planning and fundraising stages. The kids learn about the need to get passports, how different countries operate with different currencies and the cultural differences when they get there.

The students are selected in Year 5 to go on the trips as Year 6 students.

He says it is all about producing life-long learners and as well as giving them a chance to take in a different culture, it also gives them an opportunity to share and be proud of their own culture.

"The learning that takes place is immense."

Jasmine admits that she'll miss her family being away from them for more than a week - "it's going to be quite sad" - but says she's looking forward to going diving.
"I've got butterflies. My family are so excited for me."

It's that widening of possibilities and horizons that is behind Rotorua Boys' High School's trip to the US later this year.

Teacher Jacque Kareko will take a group of about 20 boys and says the trip is all about encouraging them to dream big - whatever their passion.

The group from the ACE programme will spend just under two weeks visiting Hawaii and the US mainland - taking in key sites like Pearl Harbour, the White House, the UN Headquarters and Smithsonian Museums.
It's something Ms Kareko hopes will be a life-changing trip for the 14 and 15-year-old boys.

"A key component of the ACE programme has always been to provide our top academic students with opportunities to learn in a dynamic and stimulating environment."

The aim, she says, is to open the hearts and minds of the boys so "they can consider a world of possibilities beyond the classroom and hone their aspirations for the future".
"For those boys interested in studying geo-politics, history and international relations, or keen to pursue military, scientific, teaching, foreign correspondent, political, film production and ambassadorial careers; or even curious about working for the United Nations in New York - like our former prime minister Helen Clark - this trip has been carefully tailored to cater to the diversity of student interests, enriched and empowered daily by an inspired and dedicated teaching staff."

She says it's all about teaching the boys what they can't teach in the classroom.
"It's totally to inspire the boys and encourage them to think outside the square."
On the trip they'll stand in the spot Martin Luther King Jr made his famous I Have a Dream speech - "who isn't inspired by that".

"It's not a holiday ... I have no doubt that as well as coming back academically enriched they will come back culturally enriched and spiritually enriched."
They're also learning before they go, she says.

"They don't take things for granted. They know big sacrifices are being made to make this trip happen and in return they want to pay it forward and make the most of it."

John Paul College principal Patrick Walsh says times have changed from his day and global travel is now a reality for many schools.

The school will soon send a group of business students to China to help expand their horizons around enterprise, business and trade. Another group of French language students will soon head to France.

John Paul College students representing the school in China. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

Mr Walsh says the trend in overseas school trips started about a decade ago but has accelerated over the last four to five years.

He says the new NCEA curriculum means the learning that is done through trips like these is a better fit, and can be incorporated into courses.

"They're not only getting to experience another country but they're earning credits."

Mr Walsh uses the philosophy that event the best teaching can't replace lived experiences, and that's why he says the trips are so crucial.

"It's one thing to study the importance of China in the global economy in theory, it's a whole different thing seeing it first-hand."

He says it is far from being just a holiday or a junket, with students required to complete work before, during and after the trip.

For Rotorua Intermediate School principal Garry de Thierry school trips also providing opportunities out of the classroom.
This year a group of students from the school will head to Italy to follow in the footsteps of the Maori Battalion, as well as visiting Paris.

He says for a lot of the students and whanau going it will have special meaning as many had links to those who served, and died, in Italy.
He says overseas travel transforms the students on a personal level, raising their awareness of the world.

Mr de Thierry uses the rubber band analogy - once stretched it never goes back to its original size.
He says overseas travel does the same for the minds of his students.

Rotorua Girls' High School principal Ally Gibbons says the young women at the school are leaders in a global environment so it is only natural that opportunities to ensure they experience life in a culture different to their own are created and encouraged.

She says the benefits experienced by those students who travelled overseas is often transformational and enables a more global perspective on the world. "Also, students who travel overseas become more aware of how important their own culture is to them and how special it is.

"It encourages a sharing of culture as much as it inspires the preservation of one's own unique identity."