Members of Form 3 are offered the opportunity to spend five weeks each Easter Term in Auckland, New Zealand.

Accompanied by Buckswood staff, students live with host families and travel daily to The New Zealand Institute of Education in Takapuna where lessons are delivered by their own teachers. The school is in a central location, close to the shops and close to the beach.

Students are taught the same curriculum as in the UK with the addition of New Zealand Studies. A local teacher tops up the curriculum with lectures on New Zealand’s history and culture. The school day finishes with fun and swimming on the beach just 50 metres away. This idyllic setting allows students to experience the Kiwi culture and way of life while at the same time loose nothing of their UK schooling.

The students enjoy a packed itinerary of activities and trips which includes a weekend at The Bay of Islands in New Zealand’s beautiful Northland. Here they will stay at a Backpacker’s Hostel, meeting other travellers and cooking for themselves. Students take advantage to join a cruise following pods of wild dolphins and have an opportunity to discover the connection between their own families and early development of New Zealand in the historic first capital of Russell. Students also visit the Waitangi Treaty grounds to gain an understanding of modern New Zealand.

While in New Zealand students will have an opportunity to walk up volcanoes, climb the harbour bridge, windsurf and sail, and other outdoor pursuits for which New Zealand is renown. They may also experience Maori culture first hand by spending time on a Marae, a sacred Maori meeting place.

For most students this will be the first time they have been away from home for a long period and so along with the academic skills, students will also acquire the skills of independence such as: team building, personal organisation and budgeting, time management, using bus and ferry timetables and a variety of problem solving which helps to improve their personal and social development.