Westholme School - Trips And Visits

Trips And Visits

BORNEO EXPEDITION - Summer 2010

On 9th July 2010, 13 intrepid students accompanied by Miss Edgar, Miss Entwistle and Dan (the Mountain leader) set off to Borneo in South East Asia to undertake a month-long expedition. The month was split into four phases: Community, Wildlife/Environment, Mountain/Adventure, Ocean.

The Community phase took place in a small village in northern Borneo called Bongkud where the group lived amongst the local community and helped with projects to improve the quality of life in the village. Tasks included digging the foundations for the new community centre and toilet block, constructing a water feed tank (as 25% of the village does not have running water) and building a kitchen garden so the camp can grow its own fruit and vegetables.

The girls had the opportunity to teach English to local children and to play rounders, badminton and football. The members of the community and village chief made everyone feel incredibly welcome and in return for our hard work the group were taught how to dance, play the gongs and make bracelets from local beads. Girls also had the opportunity to attend the local church where they performed their favourite hymn, 'Shine, Jesus Shine'!

The wildlife/environment stage took place in the rainforest in the east of the island near to a community called Batu Puteh. The group lived in tents in the jungle, collected seeds for the tree nursery and planted almost 400 trees. The tropical rainforests in Borneo are facing destruction as the government has deforested vast areas to set up palm oil plantations. This devastation of the rainforest contributes to the destruction of habitats of thousands of species including the incredibly rare orang-utan. However, during the jungle safaris girls were lucky to see the rare animal in the wild as well as the proboscis monkey. As part of the wildlife phase we visited the orang-utan sanctuary at Sepilok which cares for orphaned orang-utans and tries to rehabilitate them into the jungle.

There were two parts to the adventure phase of the trip: the jungle trek and mountain ascent. Westholme students successfully climbed Mount Kinabalu which, at 4095m, is the highest mountain in S.E. Asia. There was also a four-day jungle trek which was particularly tough as we had to carry all supplies and hammocks for the four days. Parts of the trek were incredibly steep and muddy. At times morale was low but when we were told that the trek formed part of the prisoner of war death marches organised by the Japanese during World War II, we were grateful of our kit, boots, hammocks and food supplies.

At the end of the expedition there was time to enjoy our R & R days on the beaches of tropical islands off the coast of Borneo - true paradise.

More photos from the trip are in the Sixth Form Gallery. You can also read more about Westholme's expedition to Borneo on the Camps International website. Just go to www.campsinternational.com (Tribal Zone - Project Diary - Borneo team. Our blog is called 'Getting on with the programme and some fun!'

Westholmers are now looking forward to the next expedition in 2012 - hopefully to Tanzania or Cambodia!

Costa Brava for May Half Term, 2010

During the half term holidays, twenty four pupils from Years 8 and 9 travelled to the Costa Brava in northern Spain with Miss Edgar, Mrs Hampson and Mrs Waldron.

Five days were spent in the picturesque resort of Tossa de Mar. The trip included daily nexcursions including a day trip to Port Aventura Theme Park, a morning visiting the medieval town of Girona and a day in Barcelona where the girls visited several works by modernist architect Antoni Gaudi, including the Parc Guell, the unfinished Sagrada Familia Cathedral and the famous houses, Casa Mila and Casa Battlo. They also strolled down Las Ramblas and visited Boiqueria Market and had a chance to enjoy some retail therapy in Barcelona's many boutiques.

Various enjoyable activities were organised in the evenings which included a quiz night, a beetle drive, a tapas evening and bowling. Everyone enjoyed their week in the Spanish sunshine and many girls begged the staff to organise another trip next year. The girls were impeccably behaved and a credit to Westholme.

Y11 TRIP TO ROME

A group of Year 11 and Sixth Form Westholme students visited the magnificent sites of Rome recently. They spent a long weekend discovering many of this beautiful city's most famous sites. From the holy site of St. Peters Basilica & the artistic radiance of the Sistine Chapel to the daunting Colosseum and the heart of the Roman empire itself, the forum Romanum; from the architectural genius of the Pantheon and the exquisite Spanish Steps to the tranquil port of Ostia and the grandeur of the Trevi fountain. The excursion was bathed in glorious sunshine as the pupils enjoyed a magical journey into the past and had their senses of awe illuminated in what was a thoroughly enjoyable Classics trip for all.

OUT OF AFRICA WESTHOLME STUDENTS VISIT KENYA

In July 2008 a group of 23 students and two members of staff spent a month in Kenya as part of an expedition team organized by Camps International. The expedition was divided into 4 phases: Community, Wildlife, Mountain and Ocean.

During the four week trip, the girls worked closely with the local communities planting trees and building fences to protect crops from the herds of elephants.

The students visited a local school and had the opportunity to teach the Kenyan children. The Okey-Kokey and numerous rounders matches were hugely successful! As part of the trip, the group undertook a 5 day trek to the summit of Mount Kenya (4895m) where they saw the sun rise over the African continent. The expedition ended with 5 days of well-earned rest and relaxation on the shores of the Indian Ocean.