The Outdoor Education Group
The Outdoor Education Group (OEG) is now working with Ballarat Grammar to deliver the OE program.
Information about the OE program can be accessed via the OEG website where Ballarat Grammar has a seperate section from which parents and students can access specific information on programs run within the school.
Website: http://www.oeg.net.au
Outdoor Education
About OE
The School first embarked on a comprehensive, sequential program of outdoor education in 1979. While there have been many changes along the way, the essence of the program remains the same and the experiences remain a most effective vehicle to powerfully engage our young people:
RESPECT AND RESPONSIBILITY FOR SELF, OTHERS AND THE ENVIRONMENT
From 1984 until 2007, the program involved students going on camp one class at a time but from 2008 onwards, the decision was made to work in partnership with the Outdoor Education Group to deliver a challenging program which enabled students to go on camp in whole year level groups of up to 140 students working in either homeroom groups or smaller groups of from 12 to 14 students.
The program is sequential in nature and designed to engage and challenge students in the outdoors, encouraging them to step outside their comfort zones. The experiences that they undertake serve to assist in the development of self concept, communication, tolerance and mutual understanding as well as providing opportunities for students to experience leadership and followership. In the process, students develop skills in the outdoors which should enable them to develop a profound respect for the natural environment and sustainable recreation skills in the outdoors.
Between Years 7and 9, students participate in 5 camps, culminating in an optional alpine camp in Year 10 as well as a range of self-selected opportunities during Explorations Weeks in Years 10 and 11. Year 11 students also participate in leadership roles on the Year 7-9 core program.
Program details and forms can be found on the Outdoor Education Group website. (Top left on this page.)
For information about Junior School camps visit the Junior School Camps page
In summary, the Outdoor Education program for 2008 is as follows:
Year 7- 10th – 14th February: Four-day introductory camp in Rubicon Valley– 1 night cabin accommodation with two nights under canvas to introduce skills necessary for 5-day expedition in Term 4 and beyond.
- 20th – 24th October: a self sufficient journey in the Goulburn Valley area which will utilise a range of different transports (bushwalking, rafting, mountain bikes) as students work in groups to navigate, cook in small groups and camp. Groups will also undertake a range of initiative and challenge tasks in the course of their journey.
- 4th - 8th February – Murray River (Yarrawonga/Cobram area) walk in/walk out journey with raft building to produce the group’s main means of transport for the journey.
- 6th – 10th October – three-day conservation camp (3 homerooms Monday – Wednesday, 2 homerooms Wednesday – Friday) to several venues in conjunction with Conservation Volunteers Australia and the Department of Sustainability Environment. Groups will undertake three projects, each in a different location, so that the homeroom group going out from Monday to Wednesday will start the project which will be completed by the group following up in the second half of the week.
- 19th – 23rd May – four-day journey (3 homerooms Monday – Thursday, 3 homerooms Tuesday – Friday) in Grampians National Park involving climbing, bushwalking and abseiling.
- 28th July - 1st August – alpine camping and back-country skiing at Mt Stirling and Bogong High Plains; this camp is optional but it is anticipated that 80 – 90 students will choose to participate in six groups.
Explorations Weeks
These take place in the Expeditions Week in the June vacation and in the final week of classes in Term 4. In the four weeks from Year 10 and 11, students are expected to undertake a week’s community service, a week of work experience and an adventure week, with a week remaining to repeat and extend one area. A wide range of experiences has included rock-climbing, sea kayaking, white water rafting, Gippsland sailing, tall ships (Hobart), 4WD expeditions, conservation tasks, scuba diving, cycling, fly fishing and bushwalking.
Extension weekends
With time freed by taking core camps in year-blocks, an extension program is planned which is hoped to encompass regular climbing, paddling, walking trips on a user-pays basis.
Explanation of Skill Learning and Our Expectations
Students begin being instructed in many of their outdoors skills on their first training camp in Year Seven. Camp skills, group skills, as well as a solid grounding in environmental ethics and minimal impact camping form much of the basis of the first camp. This ethical knowledge is essential to enable them to know how to recreate in the outdoors in such a way that is both aware of and (hopefully) sensitive to the needs of the environment. Many of the ‘hard’ skills are fundamental to their participation in the OE program, especially such skills as rucksack packing and carrying, stove usage, bivvy erecting, etc. Older students do not generally receive the same level of instruction and explanation in these skills as Year Sevens, as we expect our students to learn and be able to demonstrate what they have been taught. (The exception to this is for students who enrol in the School at Year Nine or Ten. These students often do not have the camping experience of the other students, and may well require extra tuition in many basic skills, though our experience has shown that the most important skill these students need is enthusiasm!) For example, by Year Ten, the students are expected to be able to light and use their own stoves safely, prepare and cook the food given to them, pack and adjust their own rucksacks with a minimum of supervision. This allows them to cope with the new demands of learning to ski and live in the snow. By the same token, Year Eights are expected to be able to demonstrate a greater degree of knowledge and skill than Year Seven students. In this and other respects, camps are not a “one-off”. They are all part of a planned sequential program which culminates in the Year Ten Alpine Camps, in which the students are given the challenge of applying the skills they have already learned in a more demanding alpine environment.
Director of Outdoor Education: Peter Cole
EMail: Peter.Cole@bgs.vic.edu.au
