Junior School K-6

Outdoor Education

Camp is a great opportunity to discover more about ourselves, others, and the wonders of creation.

Kirrikee is the “lungs of our school,” an outdoor education facility on 90 hectares, located in Penrose Forest, Southern Highlands. Our dedicated team of outdoor educators deliver age-appropriate programmes, tours and experiences for all students.

Our programme is carefully designed. Students from Kindergarten to Year 6 attend a suitably age-appropriate outdoor education experience once each year. Each camp aims to challenge, change and encourage students emotionally, relationally and spiritually.

Our programmes teach students skills that can’t be learned in the classroom as we aim to help them mature into well-rounded young adults. Junior School students experience activities such as camping, abseiling, canoeing, high ropes, trekking and mountain biking.

The Outdoor Education programme each year builds on the challenge and skills of the previous year. This sequential programme continues into the Middle School and Senior College. Below is an overview of each year’s Outdoor Education experience.

Kindergarten

Students are provided with an introduction to the outdoors through a day of oval games, creative bush play and a nature walk in Centennial Park.

Year 1

Features a day camp where students explore a native bush environment with plants and animals through several activities in Oatley Park.

Year 2

Students experience a sleepover at school – a night in a tent at St Andrew’s House. They also explore the wetlands of Olympic Park and enjoy time together in the Botanical Gardens.

Year 3

This is the year where students participate in their first overnight camp at Kirrikee, where they get creative with kite-making and mini raft races, and play on Kirrikee’s ‘Jungle Vines’.

Year 4

The outdoor education continues with students enjoying two nights at Kirrikee, offering fun challenges such as milk crate climbing, navigation games and a scavenger hunt.

Year 5

Students spend another two nights at Kirrikee and complete challenges in abseiling, log rolling, mountain biking and initiatives.

Year 6

The final year of junior school camps challenges students in abseiling, canoeing, initiative games and some bushwalking.

The focus in the primary years is to have fun and give these young students a taste of the Australian bush, with time away from the normal comforts and security of home. They also grow in confidence while developing outdoor recreation, teamwork and leadership skills. Time is taken to explore the big questions of life and what the Bible has to say about them. Outdoor Education is considered a very important component of the curriculum.

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