Most international schools sell themselves on their campus: expansive sports grounds, impressive arts venues, bright airy classrooms. At Nanjing International School, we want to sell ourselves on China being the campus.

Grade 11 student, Derron Yu, is convinced that the school has al- ready made a considerable effort to burst that bubble. “Field trips spring to mind – in just one year I undertook four of them. It’s a different type of experience to go to a limestone valley to help understand Chemistry concepts, by seeing a real world scientific environment and learning from the experience. The school tries to make the most of Nanjing and what surrounds us to help our learning.”

We are involved in a Chinese community drama project for the first time in our history. In late 2015, ten of our students will find themselves working with a far larger number of Chinese students from a local school and an impoverished migrant worker school. The local schools are really interested in how our students will impact the project, working and learning alongside local students. And, given the importance of this first step into a longer-term off-campus learning experience, NIS students will be performing their work on a tour, in areas and communities they would not normally get access to. That’s hugely exciting for them, for us all.

This is one small prototype, but it’s a great start. We want parents, teachers and students to help start a more concerted effort to develop a impactful off-campus learning programme.