Field Trips and Visits

An ISP student does not spend all of her or his time in the classroom. Each student in Grades 4-11 goes on one week-long trip every year. In addition, the vast majority of students will go on other trips either within Paris, around France or other countries, as part of different courses that they take, or as part of an Extended Curriculum Program. These trips can be for part of a day (for example to a museum), or over a period of several days as part of a team representing a country at the Model United Nations. Some students may also take part in the school’s Namibia project, where a group of students and teachers from ISP goes to southern Africa during the summer break to support other children and teachers working in a school with a significantly different level of resources to that enjoyed at ISP.

On these pages you will find some examples of these fieldtrips and outings, but the list is not exhaustive.

Grade 6 Gîte Trip

Grade 7 Renaissance Trip

Grade 8 Volcano Trip

Grade 9 Basque Country Trip

Grade 10 Eagle's Nest Trip

IB Diploma History Students' Trip to Berlin  

Students of History in the IB Diploma have the opportunity to bring history off the page and visit the key Cold War sites in Berlin.  This visit enables the students to see at first hand the involvement of the allies in the Berlin airlift, the effect of the Berlin Wall and the difference between life in East and West.  It also allows them access to sources they would not normally encounter in the classroom, which they are encouraged to assess for their values and limitations.

Our visit includes:

• sections of the wall (including the Bernauer Strasse memorial)
• the newly opened, and excellent, DDR Museum showing day to day life in East Germany
• Checkpoint Charlie
• an underground nuclear bunker built in 1972
• the Allied Museum (a former US army outpost)
• a walking tour to learn more about Berlin’s key Cold War sites and to further experience the differences between East and West

IB Diploma Economics field trips

Students of DP Economics have in the past visited La Banque de France (The French Central Bank) and La Bourse (the former stock exchange) at Palais Brongniart. The Brongniart visit included:

• Tour of historical areas of the Stock Exchange
• Explanation of the old quotation system and tour of the old pit
• History of the Palais Brongniart
• Presentation of the role and function of the present day stock exchange
• Explanation of the quotation system and simulation of placing a stock order

In March, Higher Level Economics students will leave the class room to do a field study into the market structure of a real world example of a market. This visit should enhance students understanding of the difference between the characteristics of the different market structures and the difficulty in categorising real markets into one of the four theoretical market structures studied.