Outdoor Education

‘Cherish the journey’ is a mantra that Trinity’s Outdoor Education Department really takes to heart. How we define the journey varies from individual to individual and may involve:

• The student journey from primary to upper secondary

• The journey from child to adult

• The journey of life

• The spiritual journey

• The journey of environmental stewardship in a world challenged by climate change, resource depletion and ecological destruction

• The journey of self-understanding and personal growth

However you perceive the notion of ‘journey’, the Trinity Outdoor Education program aims to foster elements of each of these ideas and embed them in the learning students experience in the outdoors. Our boys develop in confidence, levels of independence and then leadership as they progress through the program. Physically and emotionally, they develop as a result of their experiences year on year; thus, the program should not be viewed as a series of individual trips, but as a sequential set of learning opportunities that expands and develops every year. The Outdoor Education program tailors activities to the agespecific abilities of the students and intends to push them to go beyond their comfort zones, but within their ability, to challenge them and consequently promote the greatest learning. Our Year 7 students are introduced to activities and supported by older Year 10 student leaders. They undertake tasks that expose them to the natural world through bushwalking, sailing, canoeing, abseiling, and camping. Then, within a few years, these same Year 7 students develop into the Year 10 Leaders, capable of supporting others and returning service back to the school community.

In 2021, Outdoor Education at Trinity implemented a variety of initiatives that will help our students on their journey. In Term 4, the Year 7s will travel to Lake Nillahcootie for their first foray into the Senior School Outdoor Education program. During Term 1, our Year 8 boys embarked on a new program at the Gippsland Lakes. They sea kayaked across Lake Victoria, sailed through Lake King, and bushwalked along the Ninety Mile Beach. This new coastal environment bolsters the program and allows students to range from mountain to sea. Travelling north along the Macalister River, our Year 9 students experience the sub-alpine terrain of Licola in the winter months with rafting and bushwalking. Finally, the progression to Year 10 allows students for the first time to select the environment and type of activity they would like to undertake. In April, Year 10 students set off on journeys to the Northern Territory to hike the Larapinta Trail; other groups went sea kayaking, hiking, and climbing on the Freycinet Peninsula in Tasmania; while another cohort embarked on a canoeing journey along the Murray River to the Barmah Forest and an extended sailing and sea kayaking journey across all three of the Gippsland Lakes.

Over his four years of the Senior School Outdoor Education program, each Trinity student is immersed in at least 25 days of learning in the outdoors. If students elect to take part in the Outdoor Leaders program at Year 10 or in Trinity’s various other outdoor co-curricular offerings as they journey through

Year 8 students, including Michael Wu, Uwaez Aguss and Bobby Christensen, sailed the Gippsland Lakes

One group of Year 10s hiked the Larapinta Trail

the school, this number increases considerably. This is very much a journey of progression as students reflect on prior learning and look to the future with their newfound skills and confidence.

The importance of social connection and the need for students to access activities that engage them socially, connect them to people and embed them in the natural environment was surely heightened by the experiences of 2020, when, due to COVID, students were denied their Outdoor Education experience. Unfortunately, the devastating impact of the pandemic continued into 2021 with a set of Year 8 camps needing to be rescheduled due to a snap lockdown in February. Then, in June, some of the Year 10 trips were also impacted. Despite the difficulties these lockdowns pose, the school is committed to the learning achieved in the Outdoor Education program and will continue to strive for every student to have an opportunity to participate.

The journey continues and, hopefully, every Trinity student will embrace the opportunities that Outdoor Education provides.

Bill Cleary

Director of Outdoor Education