Field Trips and Campouts
Education at Buckingham Friends School extends far beyond the classroom. We believe that students learn best when they are presented with diverse educational experiences and off-campus learning is an important part of our curriculum.
Lower school children make frequent visits to the Honey Hollow Environmental Education Center or spend part of a day tapping maple trees and making their own brand of syrup. Day trips range from a hands-on experience at a local business to an introductory visit to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
A broader experience is offered to middle school students, with the 5th grade traveling a bit further and spending several days at the Pocono Environmental Education Center. Museum exposure continues with visits to the Michener and Princeton University. Community outreach and responsibility is emphasized during regular visits to local senior residences and to the Bucks County SPCA shelter.
A variety of opportunities are provided for upper school students to fully integrate their learning experience. Environmental education continues with multi-day field trips to the Pine Barrens and to The Marine Science Consortium in Wallops Island, VA. Students spend their days studying oceanographic research, intertidal beaches, sand dunes, salt marshes, and maritime forest. Week long trips to Williamsburg and Washington, D.C. bring history to life. These exciting trips are all designed to support and enhance academic work that is done in the classroom.
The school’s off-campus programs are also designed to nurture the social and emotional development of our students. Our 6th, 7th and 8th graders go camping each fall in an effort to celebrate the beginning of the year, get to know each other in a different setting, and begin the year with a bonding experience involving cooperation and friendship that will translate into positive performance in the classroom. We believe that it is through these experiences that children grow into academically capable students and, ultimately, positive citizens in their communities.