Education outcomes are one of the biggest conversations in many families who have children going through the education system and also teachers who spend the majority of their planning time looking at creative ways they can meet the National Curriculum Standards for their students. Here at Camp Clayton one of our biggest group bookings are schools and so it is a big focus of ours to constantly asses how we can meet the needs of the school groups and assist them in providing fun school camps that have clearly aligned themes and specific learning outcomes for their students.
Outdoor education is able to contribute in a huge way to multiple areas of the curriculum being met. The below statement is from the Australian Curriculum website;
“The outdoor learning connection provides a framework for students to experience guided, integrated learning across the curriculum in natural environments. Students have the opportunity to gain unique and specific benefits from outdoor learning. They develop skills and understandings while valuing a positive relationship with natural environments and promoting the sustainable use of these environments.”
Outdoor learning is able to meet four key areas of the curriculum;
- Skills and knowledge
- Human-nature relationships
- Conservation and sustainability
- Health and wellbeing
It also is able to address cross-curriculum priorities of Critical and Creative Thinking, Ethical Understanding, Personal and Social Capability and Sustainability.
Through our programs and facilities at Camp Clayton, we are able to meet a range of these key areas of the curriculum for schools through the school camp mode of delivery. Below are some of the great benefits of engaging outdoor education through annual school camps at Camp Clayton.
Development of Positive Relationships
One of the most successful things that we see happen in group programs and retreats at Camp Clayton is the deep bonds that are created within the groups. There is something special that happens when a group of people leave their normal routine and spend a week at Camp. The time-sharing meals together, participating in activities as a team and having lots of opportunity for conversations and getting to know one-another really creates an environment for strong relationships to be formed. Our Team Rescue and Challenge Course activities helps to facilitate this environment by putting your group in a situation where they have to problem solve and work together as a team. Acknowledging each other’s strengths and weaknesses to achieve the goal. The debrief at the end of the challenge also enables the group to take a look at their own leadership skills and evaluate where they could have gone better. These challenges set your group up well to bond and develop as a team.
The development of an adventurous spirit
Many people struggle with putting themselves out of their comfort zone and embracing adventure and the unknown. For some young people, this comes naturally, but for the majority, adventures are an uncomfortable place to be. This is where outdoor education really comes into play with developing young people’s skills and personal capability. An outdoor adventure helps children and young people to tap into the creative and critical thinking areas of their brain and to learn to feel more comfortable venturing out of their comfort zone.
Camp Clayton is the place to be for adventurous camps! Our Big Four Adventure Activities challenge the individual well out of their comfort zone through the High Ropes, Giant Swing, Rock Wall and Flying Fox.
Managing personal risks
Managing personal risks is about being able to identify, measure and attend to the risk that is presented. As a child, there is no understanding of risks and they are unable to determine what may be a risk to them. This is developed as children grow and start to encounter risks. For young people, it is an important skill for them to be able to critically asses the risks in front of them and decide if they will participate or minimise or steer clear of the risk presented. One part of managing risks through the activities at Camp Clayton is about pushing past fear and choosing to trust the equipment and operator of the activity. This is particularly important in the Rock Wall activity. We often see students happy to climb to the top of the Rock Wall but then they struggle to let go of the wall so that they can be lowered down. This is where the students may originally see the risk as high and they need to be able to evaluate the risk, trust the equipment, listen to our trained staff member who has the skills to hold them when they let go and then choose to let go.
The teaching and learning of self-reliance and independence
One of the great areas of the curriculum that are met when using outdoor education through school camps is the development of independence for the students. For some students this may be their first time staying away from home in an unknown environment or without their parents or gradians. It teaches them to rely on themselves as they manage their own self-care while they are away and have to adapt out of their usual routine. As a child or young person continues to go on annual school camps, they build up more self-reliance and this best prepares them for adulthood.
Learning the value of lifelong outdoor recreation for enjoyment, health and wellbeing.
Going on a school camp enables young people to try a range of different activities to see what other options there are that they may enjoy for outdoor recreation. Many of our activities on site are ones that the young people may have not tried before and it may encourage them in their health and wellness journey as they continue to grow up. Many of our groups also use various spaces to enjoy exercise in many forms, including the beach, oval, volleyball court and stadium for many sports.
As you can see, outdoor education can contribute hugely to the Australian Education Curriculum required outcomes and can facilitate many benefits for the students. As well as meeting curriculum learning areas, outdoor education can help to develop essential personal skills like communication, teamwork, resilience, self-confidence, leadership, goal setting, personal autonomy and initiative. These personal skills are vital in developing in our young people who are our future.
Finally, as Camp Clayton is a popular choice for school camps, we take utmost care to provide a high level of duty of care for all groups onsite. Health, safety and injury protection is of first and foremost priority for our groups and we have staff continually trained and assessed in our activities so that they are able to meet your expectations of care for your group while using our activities.
If you are a school group looking at options for your next school camp, check out our website page for Schools here.