Childcare & Community in Cambodia School Trips

Projects Abroad

In this programme, your students will bring their creativity, energy, and enthusiasm to community preschool settings and roll up their sleeves to help improve their physical surroundings.

Many preschool settings are only open thanks to small charities and the efforts of student groups. They build a thriving and secure environment for younger children to learn in over time through their continuous efforts as well as the resources they bring.

The alternative is often no preschool care, which means early years education, socialisation, and development can suffer. The contribution you will make during your stay will go a long way in supporting these settings.

This programme is based in Phnom Penh, the capital city, away from the hustle and bustle of the city centre, in the semi-rural and laid-back outer suburbs. This will allow you to immerse yourselves in a more traditional way of life and appreciate the feel of a village within the big city.

Your group will engage with the children in their daily learning each morning. At first, supporting the local teachers, you may work one-on-one with the schoolchildren in their activities and gradually, as you get familiar with how everything works, take more responsibility for organising their work. This could involve music, dance, sports, crafts, language, or numeracyâ€”engaging the children in a range of activities with lower ratios has a big impact on the quality of the day's work.

The afternoons will be dedicated to a renovation project led by local professionals. The project itself will depend on the needs of the setting at the time of your trip but may include cleaning and brightening up a classroom, helping create a playground area, or some landscaping or gardening projects.

In addition to the work in the preschool setting, Projects Abroad will organise many cultural and sightseeing activities. Highlights here include language and cooking lessons, an insight and understanding of the genocide of the 1970s, visits to temples, shopping at the markets, and a weekend trip to the awe-inspiring temple complex of Angkor Wat near the town of Siem Reap.

This is an insightful programme that will teach your students much about the contrasting historical thread of Cambodia while engaging with a charming and ancient culture and making a tangible contribution to a community setting.

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school tours Childcare & Community in Cambodia

Childcare & Community in Cambodia school groups

Childcare & Community in Cambodia photograph

Teacher Checklist

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Example Itineraries for our 2026 trips

Days 1-2
You will land in Phnom Penh, where our local Projects Abroad team will greet you before taking you by bus to your hotel in the city centre.

Your first two days will focus on orientation in the city and your placement setting. Our local team will give you a thorough induction including a safety briefing and cultural awareness training to teach you about the local community and customs. Our local team will review the programme with your group to ensure everyone is aware of their roles and can make a start on thinking about activities to initiate in the setting.

Days 3-6
The key to the first few days will be to familiarise yourselves with how and what the children learn by observing the local teachers and following their prompts before you start engaging with the local children.

Projects Abroad has checklists for all the development indicators we hope to see from the children as they pass through the centres and will ensure there are resources for you to use in your activities. Addressing these indicators will give your students plenty of opportunities to bring their ideas and talents into their daily work.

The renovation project will begin this first week. Your group will be split into smaller teams, taking turns undertaking different tasks so everyone can participate in each process.

Outside the two placements, our Projects Abroad team will arrange numerous activities, such as cooking lessons, shopping trips to the market, visits to significant sites from the Khmer Rouge period, and walks around the city's temples and palaces.

Days 7-8
Over the weekend, your group will take a bus to Siem Reap in the north of the country, home to the vast complex of temples known as Angkor Wat, some parts of which are up to 1,000 years old. Walking through the temples that the rainforest constantly threatens to swallow is a magical experience, which is only enhanced by watching the sun rise over their unmistakable silhouettes.

Your group will stay in a hotel in Siem Reap and enjoy the shopping and restaurants of this popular town. Your students can swim at the hotel and reflect on their progress so far in between walking through the markets and temples.

Days 9-12
Back to the placement and picking up on the activities with the children, focusing on the key development goals with energy and imagination. The confidence and sensitivity that the students demonstrate as the programme goes on is an example of their personal journey in this wonderful country.

Day 13
Farewell party at your placement with the schoolchildren and staff for a last chance to create more memories and take some final photographs.

Day 14
It's time to say goodbye to Cambodia as you head to the airport to catch your flight home.

For a fully detailed itinerary, please get in touch by completing the form.

Which Curriculum Subjects do we cater for?

Geography

Bring your students to a new environment, with an entirely different culture and ecosystems. They will be able to develop their geographical knowledge with first hand experience rather than just with their textbooks.

Community Projects

This programme offers you and your student two projects directly supporting the local community.
- Working with children. Your students will engage with the schoolchildren by planning activities and teaching lessons for them.
- Renovation work. In addition to working with the children, your students will be able to improve the learning environment.

Activities

What size groups do we cater for?

All group sizes of 5 or more. We offer a free staff place with every 9 students.

Access for visitors with disabilities?

Disabled facilities can be offered on request.

Visitors with Special Educational Needs (SEN)?

Visitors with special educational needs can be catered for on request.

Anything else?

Projects Abroad provides an individualised service and schedule planning, which is backed up by excellent pre-departure preparation and by a dedicated and highly experienced local team in each destination.

We aim to provide a challenging and rewarding experience for every student, promoting self-belief, resilience, leadership, teamwork, reflection, and a new perspective on the world.

Get in touch today! Our partnerships team is happy to answer any queries and guide you through the process of booking the school trip of a lifetime!

Who are Projects Abroad?

Projects Abroad arrange challenging, meaningful, educational, and safe overseas service and internship programmes.

We have been taking students overseas since 1992 and work in over 20 developing and emerging countries across Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Key to our work is the dedicated in-country staff whose diverse skill sets, local knowledge and love of their community allow us to develop relevant, immersive and worthwhile schedules for school trips which give the students responsibility and teach them to see the world through a different lens.

We offer programmes in community development, conservation, construction, education, sports, empowerment, human rights, and healthcare, among many others. These projects are designed to contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, broadening the student experience to see the contribution of a few to a movement for global change.

All school trips are individualised. We realise that each school has its own goals and interests, and the students have their own passions. We work with the school to develop a tailored itinerary that reflects their values and allows the students to make a connection with the community in which they serve.