The first S1 school trip is a residential outdoor learning course in Scotland. In 2018 this was two nights at Lockerbie Manor in March) and cost each child around £150.
All S1 pupils were encouraged to attend and the trip involved a three-day trip (two nights away) and included activities such as abseiling and orienteering, and the time away provided a great opportunity for a new year group to mix. With such trips if there are difficulties in paying then families are encouraged to contact the school as the trip aims to be inclusive in keeping with the ethos of the school.
In previous S1 years there have been trips to the Science Centre in Glasgow as well as the chance to sign up for the Edinburgh International Book Festival at the start of S2. The 2018/2019 S1s have a trip to France in S2. This may be repeated for 2019/2019 S1s.
Further up the school, there are opportunities for trips and foreign exchanges for your child associated with different subjects. Examples for current pupils include a Battlefields trip to Belgium and France (History), and a STEM (Science, Technology, Enterprise, Maths) Trip to Berlin taking in the BMW plant, Jewish museum and German Museum of Technology. The school often has involvement in the EU programme Erasmus+ where pupils visit other European countries and host exchange visit pupils in return for week-long programmes of study, cultural visits and entertainment. In 2019/2020 there is a European work experience option for senior pupils.
Sports trips have typically taken place every three years and are for S4-S6. These tours are part funded by families and by fundraising activities and may cost approximately £2,000 per pupil. Previous tours have been to Australia and South Africa and involve pupils playing against local teams as well as helping community groups. The timing of future tours is to be decided soon after the 2019 tour to Sri Lanka was sadly cancelled based on advice from the authorities because of recent unrest in the country.
One obvious difference from primary school is that trips are generally not for the entire year group, as it is impractical to take a group of 150 pupils, with impacts on staffing and cost. Some trips can be first-come first-served or can be optional which gives a different feel for parents compared with primary school, and greatly relies on information making its way out of schoolbags! Keep an eye on messages and news in the school app (see ‘Communication’).