THE KRISTIN EXPERIENCE
Education Beyond the Classroom At Kristin, Outdoor Education is pivotal to our holistic educational offering. By providing a range of challenging outdoor experiences, we aim to promote communication, problem-solving and decisionmaking skills, which have currency across various areas. These experiences encourage a positive ‘opting in’ and ‘can do’ attitude. Our annual Camp Week is an incredible logistical feat, moving more than 1,200 students to destinations across the North Island from Kai Iwi Lakes to Great Barrier Island and from Raglan to Tongariro National Park. This week also promotes active learning through direct personal experience and offers excitement, fun and adventure, all within a safety and challenge framework.
We know through our programmes that challenging outdoor experiences impact powerfully upon a young person’s intellectual, physical, spiritual, social and moral development.
This is perhaps best encapsulated in our three-week journey experiences, Odyssey 21 and Pasifika. The Odyssey 21 is a three-week canoe journey down the Whanganui River from the source to the sea. This journey, designed specifically for our At a time when many schools are eschewing Outdoor Education Year 9 students, is about active learning and adventure, building opportunities because of risk and compliance issues, Kristin self-confidence and self-esteem. Odyssey 21 introduces our continues to offer this cornerstone opportunity. For many students to the environment to develop understanding, years now, Kristin has partnered with Bigfoot appreciation, awe, wonder and respect. It fosters Adventures, a local North Shore company that sensitivity for the environment and increases specialises in leading outdoor experiences “These their awareness of the need for sustainable and have accredited AdventureMark status. use of the world’s natural resources. experiences AdventureMark is the industry gold
standard for outdoor providers. Kristin lead to profound Exceptional accomplishments in is Bigfoot’s largest customer, and exploration and adventure, on the sea, moments when students because of our special relationship, in the mountains and in the world of we are able to work alongside them to are teaching their teachers. nature, feature strongly in our country’s design the best outdoor experiences for history. Reflecting on this heritage, This shared adventure builds our students. An example of this is our Kristin has led the way in the use of reimagined Year 10 Camp programme. relationships that turbooutdoor learning and adventure for our Working with Bigfoot, we created a students’ development - through the charges the classroom challenging tramping/camping week, camp programme, journey experiences, experience.” where students are introduced to camp Outdoor Education in the curriculum, skills such as route planning and navigation, the William Pike Challenge and the Duke of tent pitching and outdoor cooking. This experience Edinburgh Awards. forms the practice requirements for the Duke of Edinburgh Award, and now many of our Year 10 students go on At Kristin, we know that tomorrow’s successful citizens will to complete the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award. possess the adaptability to cope with a rapidly changing world One of the keys to Kristin’s success in our adventurous outdoor programmes is that students get to spend time with their teachers outside of the classroom context. It’s one thing for a student to learn rock climbing from a hired professional instructor, but quite another to go tramping in the northern Kaimai Ranges with their French teacher. These experiences lead to profound moments when students are teaching their teachers. This shared adventure builds relationships that turbocharges the classroom experience. In this way, Outdoor Education is woven into the fabric of a Kristin education.
of work and the responsibility to be an influential member of a community. Our Outdoor Education programmes are a part of our holistic educational offering and, we believe, will help them to become future ready.
Dave Scott M I D D L E S C H O O L P R I N C I PA L
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