Outdoor Education Program

OUTDOOR EDUCATION PROGRAM

BACKGROUND

Established in 1910, Christ Church Grammar School is a Pre-Kindergarten to Year 12 Anglican day and boarding school for boys in Perth, Western Australia. With more than 1700 students, its Preparatory School caters for boys from PreKindergarten to Year 6, and its Senior School for boys in Years 7 to 12. Students from Years 7 to 12 can attend as day students or boarders.

The Church Grammar School Outdoor Education program was established in 1980 and currently involves over 1000 students per annum (6000 participant days). The property was first leased in 1971 from a local farmer with the School later purchasing the initial 10 acre lease and then later the 240-acre lot to the south.

The Outdoor Education program is a compulsory and sequential adventure-based outdoor program concentrating on personal development rather than the acquisition of outdoor skills.

PERTH Walpole

Dwellingup

KOORINGAL OUTDOOR EDUCATION CENTRE

The School’s Outdoor Education centre is known as Kooringal, a local Aboriginal word meaning ‘place by the water’. Kooringal is situated in the Jarrah forest, on the north western bank of the Murray River and at the top of the Darling Scarp. It is located fifteen kilometres from the mill town of Dwellingup and 110 kilometres south-east of Perth.

Students from Years 4 to 10 travel to Kooringal to participate in outdoor education, adventure challenge, field studies and school community activities.

The objective of Outdoor Education is to develop each boy’s positive self-concept and their place in the world. The broader objectives are to:

⚪ Encourage initiative, resilience and self-reliance

⚪ Challenge a student’s adaptability to unexpected and adventurous situations

⚪ Reveal the leadership potential and strengths of each student

⚪ Develop an appreciation and respect for the natural environment

⚪ Develop a co-operative and caring approach towards others

⚪ Provide the experience of community living

⚪ Introduce students to some potential leisure activities

⚪ Develop a safety conscious attitude in all outdoor pursuits

Staff, Property and Buildings

The Kooringal property has five buildings and four sheds. The Director, Assistant Director and Outdoor Education Teacher each have houses. Three other staff are housed in the main building and shared accommodation, where there is a kitchen, hall and five dorms. The toilet block and office are located next to the main building.

The Director and Assistant Director, together with their wives and children, live onsite full-time. The Outdoor Education Teacher, Senior Instructor, and two full-time trainees also reside on the campus.

Kooringal has a fixed, seasonal program and operates the external programs of Cape to Cave and Venture. Programs range in duration from three to eleven days. The 250-acre property has a capacity of 75 students — 25 in dormitories and 50 in the field.

OUTDOOR EDUCATION PROGRAMS

YEAR 5

Familiarity with the outdoors and natural world

Kooringal-based program | 100 Students | Four programs over 12 days | March

⚪ Introduction to the Outdoor Education landscape and getting in touch with the natural world

⚪ Activities designed to get the students interacting with each other, the environment, and also reflecting on their own identities

⚪ Three-day, two-night program

⚪ One night in large tent located close to the main site

Students begin to understand the importance of ecological wellbeing in fostering human wellbeing, and how they contribute to this process. They begin to explore the impact of human activities on natural environments and strategies to minimise these impacts that include technological, structural, educational and individual behaviour initiatives.

YEAR 4

Introduction to Kooringal

Kooringal-based program | Year 4 cohort | One day program in March/April

This is a great opportunity for the students to orientate themselves with the School’s Outdoor Education facilities that they will access for the next seven years.

YEAR 6

Nature Play

Kooringal-based program | 100 Students | Four programs over 12 days in October

⚪ First outdoor activities

⚪ Bushwalk

⚪ Campout

⚪ Canoeing

⚪ Spend time outdoors drawing on Year 5 experiences

⚪ Three-day, two-night program with one night in dormitories and one night in expedition tents

Students begin to take greater responsibility for their own wellbeing and participation in outdoor activities through packing their own kit and making decisions regarding some aspects of programming. They begin to assume minor leadership roles within the group in outdoor settings and are provided opportunities for increased freedom within boundaries.

YEAR 7

Relationships and Leadership

Kooringal-based program | 220 Students | 16-day program | March to April

⚪ Focused on building relationships within House groups

⚪ New students learn from existing students

⚪ Leadership opportunities from Year 11s and students who were at Kooringal in Year 6

⚪ Two day expedition – Paddle away from Kooringal to river campsite, bush walk to next campsite, walk to Kooringal for night in dormitories where Head of House visits to get to know the students

⚪ At Kooringal — Abseiling/rock climbing, Aboriginal cultural session, raft building, orienteering, initiative games

⚪ Designed to bring everyone up to the same level of outdoor skills

Through lightweight expeditions, students develop greater responsibility for themselves and immerse themselves in natural environments for longer periods.

YEAR 8

Cape to Cave

Externally-based program | Based out of Conto’s Program Ground in the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park

⚪ Five-day, four-night program

⚪ Every night in tents

⚪ Combined with Year 8 students from St Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls

⚪ The program takes Year 8 students out of their comfort zones and into their challenge zones — whether it is successfully completing the expedition component or enduring being away from home, Year 8 students further develop their teamwork skills, independence, interdependence, and create a deeper understanding of their identity, values, community and sense of belonging

⚪ Opportunities to connect with other students in their year group

⚪ Learn about themselves, their community and natural environment

⚪ Build on relationships with others in their year group while improving communication, decision-making and interpersonal skills

⚪ Experience and learn the characteristics of healthy relationships and friendships with others

Students explore their place in the world and in nature, and what positive contributions they can make. Through short periods of reflective time in natural settings they develop greater knowledge of the role of nature in promoting wellbeing and life balance.

YEAR 9

Prepared for everyday life in the outdoors

Kooringal-based program | 200 students | Eight programs over 72 days | May to September

⚪ Nine-day, eight-night program with five days of journey-based expedition in the middle of the program

⚪ Based out of Kooringal in House groups

⚪ Bushwalking and paddle journey, high ropes challenge course, solo (16 hours alone), orienteering and community service activities

⚪ Develop resilience

⚪ Experience leadership

⚪ Be challenged physically and mentally

⚪ Take healthy risks

⚪ Have direct consequences for their actions

⚪ Experience community living

⚪ Gain a deeper appreciation of the natural environment

Students embark on more adventurous activities as a way of exploring self and nature, and learning lessons that can be applied to everyday life.

YEAR 10

Venture – Rites of Passage

Externally-based program | Based in Walpole National Park

⚪ Culmination of Outdoor Education program at Christ Church Grammar School

⚪ Eleven-day, ten-night journey-based expedition

⚪ All about the journey, not the destination

⚪ A wilderness experience

⚪ Small groups

⚪ Christ Church staff join the students on the expedition

Engagement in more adventurous outdoor activity allows students to gain skills for personal and group wellbeing and lay the foundation for ongoing outdoor recreation.

Students develop knowledge and skills to prepare for, and participate in, an independent lightweight journey with adult guidance and supervision.

Students assume leadership roles in group management during these journeys. They assume increased responsibility for the nature and forms of such journeys, and are offered a deeper understanding of the role of vistas and expanse in developing a sense of wonder for the natural world.