The Comeback Of Overnight Field Trips

Photo Credit: Adelaide Guan

When the pandemic started in 2020, overnight excursions were put on hold along with the rest of the world. As in-person instruction at Hamber and schools across the district was shut down, field trips went with it.

But ever since 2022, when the Canadian government officiated the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, overnight field trips have slowly been on the rise.

Trips like the Challenge Studio Ashland trip and the band programs' tour trip happened every one or two years. These sorts of excursions were held consistently up until the Covid restrictions. 

Ms. M. Poon (English) has been teaching at Hamber for over 20 years and has gone on a lot of overnight trips. She has taken the Challenge Studio Program to camp and has been to Ashland for the Shakespeare Festival about 12 times, gaining years of experience with the booking process for these school getaways.

According to Ms. Poon, “the booking process has not gotten any easier,” post Covid. “The VSB tightened the restrictions around safety,” she said. 

Now, teachers must have a list of all the safety risks and possible ways students could get hurt for every activity they participate in on an overnight field trip. Teachers must have to have a list saying how they will prevent those risks. The approval process for these trips has also become much more formalized; instead of handing papers in person, teachers hand them in through a web portal.

“The process of booking these sorts of trips was a lot simpler in some ways before Covid. There is now more paperwork on the front end but, you can now use a travel agent when booking,” said Mr. N. Francis (Music).

“After Covid was officially over in the eyes of the province, the VSB was a little slower to say that we could go on these trips now,” Ms. Poon concluded.

 “Overnight trips build cultural awareness, team building skills and community,” Mr. Francis said on the significance of overnight excursions.

“Instead of just learning things within the walls of Hamber, you can get a chance to go and have new experiences,” Ms. Poon added. “They create and build a community within the group attending. It’s an extension of the classroom.”

Covid has had an impact on how these trips run and the process of setting them up. However, after the hiatus of overnight field trips, Hamber has now seemingly gotten back to normal; three overnight camps have already taken place this fall.