Outdoor Learning | The British School Kathmandu

Outdoor Learning at The British School

Situated at the top of the world, amongst Himalayan peaks, steep valleys and, to the South, tropical jungles, The British School is in a unique position to offer an incredible and unique outdoor learning experience. From the youngest age, our students venture into the hills, starting off as Forest School in Foundation 1 and culminating in mountainous adventures for our Gold International Award candidates at the age of seventeen. We pride ourselves in offering programmes that embody our ‘5Cs’:

We challenge students to be independent (whether it is putting up a tent, cooking on a fire or abseiling down a canyon).
We build confidence through teamwork, carefully managed risk-taking and a sense of adventure.
We develop a rounded understanding of Nepal’s breadth of communities and cultural heritage with inter-school collaborations, village stays and visits to World Heritage sites.
We encourage creativity by providing opportunities for students to develop new skills – from basket-weaving to momo-making to decorating Tharu huts on the Nepali Terai.
We enable students to develop a sense of compassion: for each other through supporting stays away from home; for those around us (who are often living in extreme poverty); and for the stunning natural world in which we are lucky enough to be present.

Forest School

“For children nature is the greatest playground of all, with all its diverse structures, smells, textures, its creatures of all shapes and sizes, its abundant plants, some edible, others toxic. Nature offers a myriad of opportunities for risk taking, for a wealth of learning and amazement, and for freedom, separate from the adult world.” (Houghton and Worroll 2016)

The problem: Bird (2007) identified how the ‘right to roam’ in childhood has declined in four generations, and the subsequent effects on children’s participation in their natural surroundings. The children he observed typically spent their leisure time indoors, in their gardens or at clubs and leisure venues. Some adults now even have no residual memory of outdoor play.

The solution: children need to take age-appropriate risks in order to learn to stay safe. At The British School, all children from Foundation 1 to Year 2 visit our Forest School site in Chobar for one morning a week throughout the year. Here they encounter planned and measured risks through a mix of adult- and child-led activities.

The programme encompasses six areas of learning: an understanding of place (such as orienteering and navigation skills); an understanding of time (appreciating the seasons and the impact of the monsoon); the need for sustainability (maintaining the site through cleaning up and managing plants and trees); bushcraft (knot-tying, tool use, cooking on fires); biophilia (the appreciation of plants and animals through art and science activities); and mindfulness (appreciating our stunning setting in the mountains through art, poetry and meditation).

Primary Expedition

Year 1

Building on their Forest School experiences, our students start residential trips from an early age. Over the primary school years, the trips get longer in duration, are increasingly further away from school to make the most of Nepal’s myriad of settings, and incorporate greater degrees of both personal and teamwork challenges.

In Year 1, students spend all day exploring the outdoors in the south of the Kathmandu Valley (in recent years either at Godawari Botanical Gardens or our Chobar site), before returning to a sleepover in school. For many this is their first night away from home and the familiar surroundings helps with this transition.

Year 2

Year 3

The level of independence goes up in Year 3, where students pitch and organise their own tents for a one night trip to Herb Nepal. Here, they learn all about organic farming, collecting their own food for delicious vegetarian meals. From basket-weaving to a challenging evening walk with mountain views, there is a chance to collaborate and support one another in this stunning setting.

Year 4

Year 4 sees a jump in challenge – this time camping in Hattiban Forest in the South-West of the Kathmandu Valley. Around the steep hills of Champa Devi, a series of orienteering, camp craft and hill-walking challenges begin to encourage students to build confidence through teamwork and collaboration.

Year 5

With a whole week away, Year 5 visit an entirely different setting. After a 6+ hour bus journey down from the mountains (a challenge in itself!), students spend a week in Chitwan National Park – a sub-tropical jungle containing elephants, crocodiles, rhinoceroses, sloth bears and tigers (if you are lucky!) as well as a myriad of bird species. As well as the personal routines of looking after oneself for the week (we are in rooms rather than tents for the first time), there are the challenges of supporting each other in an extended stay away from home. Jungle safaris (both on foot and in jeeps), a visit to Tharu villages (including fishing Tharu-style and painting mud houses), and elephant conservation projects are just some highlights of an action-packed week.

Year 6

Year 6 also spend a whole week away, but with a much greater focus on personal challenge, at The Last Resort in Sindhupalchok, just below the border with Tibet. Rock climbing, canyoning and rope work (on a Jacob’s Ladder) are interspersed with teamwork challenges in this beautiful gorge setting accessed by Nepal’s highest suspension bridge. A highlight of this trip is a day out to visit a nearby village to spend time with local students with lesson exchanges.

Secondary Expedition

Key Stage 3

Our current expedition week offers our Year 7, 8 and 9 students the opportunity to engage with the environment, people and culture that surrounds the Kathmandu valley and beyond. Building upon their outdoor experiences in the Primary school, our Key Stage 3 students aim to further develop their knowledge and skills to be fully prepared for their future participation in the International Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (starting at the end of Year 9). Our Key Stage 3 expedition trips involve many activities including: trekking, abseiling, rafting, navigation, camping, camp craft, cooking and orienteering.

Key Stage 4

Our Key Stage 4 expeditions are designed to facilitate students in achieving the requirements for the bronze and silver adventure journeys of the International Duke of Edinburgh’s award. We currently use a range of regions and providers within Nepal to give our students the most exciting and safest experience possible. These expeditions require our Year 10 and Year 11 students to plan for, and participate in the following activities: trekking, hiking, rafting, cooking, camping, survival first-aid and community work. By the end of Year 11, our students will have the knowledge, skills and confidence to continue toward the Gold Level of the award. For those students who chose not to follow the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award pathway, they are still encouraged to attend these expeditions as we believe they provide valuable life skills such as team work, collaboration and resilience.

Key Stage 5

We currently offer two pathways for our students in Year 11 and Year 12. The first pathway provides students with the opportunity to pursue the gold level of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. In addition to expedition weeks, several trips are offered throughout the year that allow students to meet the requirements of this level. We offer both rafting and trekking expeditions so that students have the opportunity to experience all of the adventure Nepal has to offer. Our second pathway provides students with the opportunity to engage in community projects with one of our partner schools based in Chautara. Our students plan for and run activities that provide sustainable assistance to the people of this area. The focus of this support is toward schools and students that may not have the same opportunities our own students have. We hope that our students complete this project with a greater sense of global responsibility.