School Life | Huili grade 1 set off to Little Socium

This term the grade 1 pupils set off for their first ever school trip to Little Socium, an indoor village made to introduce young minds to the different roles and places that make up a community. Pupils were able to role-play different jobs, each lasting for half an hour with a group instructor. As pupils were split into groups of six, our tour of Little Socium began with each child receiving paper money and a pretend bank card to initiate themselves into the roleplay aspects of the day. Touching on one of the Huili core values of responsibility, the children were trusted to look after the money and use it to pay for their entry into any one of the forty different rooms, where they dressed up in the uniform and corresponding attire for the associated job position and completed set tasks relevant to the chosen industry. This gave them the opportunity to think about the lives of others as well as their own possible future through play and make-believe.

As the pupils continued through the simulated village, they encountered a vast range of different jobs: surgeons within an operating room, paramedics attending to civilians on the street, bakers making bread, nail artists at a beauty salon, and many more. In this respect, pupils were provided with a learning experience where they were able to explore both familiar and unfamiliar circumstances. All our pupils have experienced being in a restaurant or doctor’s office but for many it was their first encounter into a magician’s workshop or manicurist’s salon. By affording pupils this opportunity, they left with a greater awareness of the world around them and an inquisitiveness to find out more about it.

All of the pupils had a thoroughly enjoyable day and behaved exceptionally well, portraying Huili School Shanghai in a very positive light. It was an enlightening and thoroughly entertaining field trip for this year group, the first of many, no doubt.