LEARNING
THE YEAR 7 RESIDENTIAL VISIT
RESILIENCE AND TEAMWORK Shane Owen, Head of Year 7
A
nd we’re off! The tyres of the buses started rolling away from the Bangkok Patana gates leaving crowds of parents waving off their loved ones. On the inside of the bus windows, smudges could be seen as students pressed their faces against the glass, trying to get a final glimpse of their parents/ caregivers. This was evidence that the eagerly anticipated Residential had begun. The sugary snacks soon followed. We arrived at Rayong Chalet Resort around 11.00 am and students checked in, had lunch and were briefed. Following this, students worked in their activity
8
• Bangkok Patana School
groups through a carousel of activities which included snorkel training, beach sports, games and probably the most popular of all, the safety tour. The aim throughout the week was to encourage students to meet new people and develop friendships, work in teams and develop resilience and leadership skills. The evening activity was a quiz with the most difficult question being, “Will students sleep well this evening?” As the sun slowly rose above the clouds, students also slowly rose from their rooms to start the first morning with a buffet breakfast. Credit must be given to students as they all arrived on time, some even early, with very little prompting or knocking. This either says something about the quality of rooms, quality of breakfast, or quality of students nurtured here at Bangkok Patana.
Wild Planet gave their instructions and students gathered their belongings for their respective activities. Daily activities included kayaking, Thai cooking, ecoorienteering, visiting the Turtle Sanctuary or snorkeling and reef exploration. The post-residential survey showed that all activities were enjoyed with kayaking and snorkelling being slight favourites. The survey also highlighted Tuesday evening’s activity, ‘Trash to Fash’ as the most favourable evening activity by some distance. It was safe to say that any Monday evening jitters were soon forgotten when handed with a bag of trash to re-create Paris Fashion Week in the Residential Conference Centre. This event we called ‘Trash to Fash’. With the famous Tik Tok hit ‘Say So’ by Doja Cat queued on the sound system, our finalists paraded in their fashionable attire made
