Our sequential program of Outdoor Education experiences is for students from Year 3 to Year 9.
We use the College’s Tallong Campus – 97 hectares in the Southern Highlands – for the programs.
We have designed the sequential program to be linked to curriculum outcomes and to challenge our students across four broad spheres of holistic educational development: physical, social, intellectual and spiritual.
The development of skills for teamwork, collaboration, problem solving and initiative is central to all the programs from Year 3 to Year 9.
Our students develop age-appropriate skills through this program:
- Year 4 students learn to put up a tent, and navigate on a bushwalk.
- Year 5 students sleep in a tent for one night and experience the joy of campfire stories and the challenges of prussiking and orienteering.
- Years 6 and 7 students plant trees, paddle canoes, ride mountain bikes and veer down the flying fox.
- Students in Years 8 and 9 abseil down a rock face and negotiate the high ropes.
Our skilled outdoor staff and members of the Pastoral Team support students in dealing with the challenges, while the oft-repeated mantra comes from their encouraging peers – ‘you can do it!’
We place strong emphasis on community living, cooperative learning, goal setting and environmental stewardship.
Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award
We offer the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award program to complement our sequential Outdoor Education Program.
The Award program is entirely voluntary and each participant is free to choose their own program of activities and to progress according to personal needs, aptitude and availability of resources.
This Award is an internationally recognised program that encourages a sense of initiative amongst its participants. It is broken up into four areas: Service, Physical Recreation, Skill and Adventurous Journeys.
Within the Award there are three levels: Bronze, Silver and Gold.
We currently have 120 students enrolled in Duke of Ed at the school, a significant number of whom are completing their Gold Award. This is a significant achievement which takes place out of school hours.
Duke of Ed may be undertaken from Year 9 onwards, with students working their way through the Bronze, Silver and Gold levels.
To fulfil all the requirements of the Gold Award is a significant achievement.
