This half term you may have seen our daily updates from the most recent Duke of Edinburgh trip.

We hope that by sharing their experiences and adventures with you that more students will consider signing up for DofE or at least wish to pursue some outdoor activities! We also hope you enjoy reading about Sophie Bryant, who is the inspiration behind our Saturday Bryant programme.

“Did you know that our Duke of Edinburgh International Award programme continued throughout the pandemic? Think about that for a second. While most of the rest of the world were not even in school, our students were out hiking on stunning mountain ridges or navigating beautiful island peaks.

As an IB school we talk about being ‘risk-takers’. I prefer to say that our teachers, students and parents demonstrated courage, trust and a belief in what we do here. They should be proud. They are all now part of our history and growth as a school. They are all now part of the success of our outdoor education programme here at NLCS, Jeju.

We finished last year with a truly incredible trip to the north-east of Japan with our Gold participants. There we used our knowledge of the 2011 tsunami from our Geography classes and explored the coastline and the communities most impacted. Our students saw the scars of the tsunami, the reconstruction of towns and talked to the people that lived through the disaster. We documented the bucolic splendour of that part of the world and tasted the fruits of its land and sea. This was the cherry on the top of a quite brilliant year of outdoor education trips.

Yet, our outdoor education programme is set to grow even stronger in 2023-24. Our goal of taking each year group out on exciting life-affirming trips gets ever closer. We have already had a busy autumn of trips and there are many more coming next year. My advice to you is to get involved. Sophie Bryant would have been involved because this is part of our heritage. This is who we are as a school. It is one of the reasons we are so very special.

Say yes. Be brave. See you on the next trip!”

–Mr. Chaddock