High school Outdoor Education

The High School Outdoor program consists of journey based camps. We encourage a sense of connection and we often revisit locations they have been before. It is important in the High school to reconnect with their younger years and see a place in a new light. Our program is unique as we are not activity based, we may go canoeing but we are actually visiting a place and building relationships. Canoeing is how we can travel through the environment but it’s not our focus.

The class 9 students are involved in many outdoor trips throughout the year and as they progress so do their skills which essentially brings them total comfort in the outdoors. The more comfortable you are in a place the more you are able to see.

One of our class 9 programs involves an overnight solo experience where the students are spread out in the bush and are given a journal to write on, a tarp to sleep under and some food. This experience is often followed up with requests of “Can I do it again? Can it be longer?” The sense of achievement the students feel and confidence that they are self sufficient in the outdoors really highlights the importance of the earlier camps. Every mountain that they climb, river that they paddle, rock that they climb and path that they cycle builds resilience and a love for the outdoors.

Jen Gibson