Head of Outdoor Education - Edition 13 - 2019

The following expeditions are available during Terms 3 and 4. Information packs can collected from the OED office, on Inspire at Play@West Outdoor Education or follow the links below.

Website Home Page: https://inspire.westminster.sa.edu.au/Play/OutdoorEducation/Pages/default.aspx

Friday 27 September to Tuesday 1 October - Four days of rockclimbing at the world famous Mt Arapiles in Victoria. Suitable for Bronze to Gold students with prior rockclimbing experience.

Friday 27 September to Tuesday 1 October - Four days of bushwalking on Kangaroo Island along the world famous Wilderness Trail. Suitable for Bronze to Gold students.

Sunday 27 to Tuesday 29 October - Three days of kayaking on the scenic back waters of Katarapko Creek between Berri and Loxton in the Riverland. Suitable for Bronze and Silver and a great introduction for Westventure.

Tasmania Expedition December 2019

We are conducting this biennial event for experienced students working on their Silver or Gold Award. The multi-activity expedition includes a four-day walk in pristine mountain sub-alpine terrain, followed up with some rockclimbing and whitewater kayaking. The trip has 21 available spots.

You can view the video of the 2017 Adventure at https://youtu.be/PTbCDaeAvf4

New Zealand Expedition December 2020

We are conducting this biennial event for experienced students working on their Silver or Gold Award. The multi-activity expedition includes a four-day walk in pristine mountain sub-alpine terrain, followed up with some rock-climbing and white-water kayaking. The trip has 21 available spots.

You can view the video of the 2018 Adventure at https://youtu.be/d5RsNLNwo84

Westventure 2020

All Year 10 students in 2020 participate in this 12 day residential Outdoor Education program in their House Groups. This program is unique to Westminster School and forms a lasting memory and learning experience for the students involved. An information pack was emailed to all parents of students involved last week. The consent forms are due back at school by Friday 9 November.

As part of the lead up, all Year 9 students will be involved in sail/kayak training in Week 8 and First Aid training in Week 9.

Arapiles Rockclimbing Trip

Over the October holidays 24 students and six staff will be involved in four days of top rope climbing, multi-pitch lead climbing or seconding, and various types of abseils. Students participate in climbing activities every day with many students completing Silver and Gold requirements whilst interacting with many other avid climbers from Australia and overseas. Mt Arapiles is definitely a world famous venue and our students are lucky to be able to visit and interact with this environment.

Kangaroo Island Bushwalk

Also over the break students will be involved in experiencing some of the best wilderness walking and camping that Kangaroo Island has to offer. This four-day ‘experience of a lifetime’ provides towering cliffs of limestone, and coagulated magma, storm-blasted coastal scrub and massive arcs of bone white beach.

This is the wilderness experience that awaits all whom walk on the Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail.

This experience included Platypus Waterholes, Rocky River, Snake Lagoon, Cape du Couedic, Remarkable Rocks, Hanson Bay and concludes at the Kelly Caves.

The Westminster School Outdoor Education students were the first to walk the trail when it opened in 2016 and the return in 2018 has confirmed that this experience will stay on the calendar in years to come.

Duke of Edinburgh's Award Adelaide Hills Climbing trip

Thirty-eight students from Year 8 to 11 attended the three-day climbing trip in the Adelaide Hills over the Show weekend. A further ten Year 11 and 12 Outdoor Education students also assisted in setting-up climbing sites and acting as assistant leaders.

Day one was conducted at an indoor climbing venue at Holden Hill. Students were introduced to a wide range of climbs that had different colour holds to indicate the line and grade of the climb. Grades ranged from low teens to mid-twenties with many students being very successful on reaching the top of numerous climbs.

Day two and three started with sunshine and climbs were set up in Morialta and Onkaparinga Gorge’s Top Cliff. Eight climbs of different levels of difficulty ranging from grade 10 to 19 challenged the student’s nerves and techniques. Challenges included dealing with tiny footholds, overhangs, corner cracks and crimp holds. The newly landscaped Top Cliff climbing site was enjoyed by all involved.

Year 12 Outdoor Self Reliant Expeditions

The three Year 12 classes have been busy completing their final expeditions for 2019. So far the classes have been rock climbing at Mt Arapiles or scuba diving on the South Coast during Term 1, sea kayaking along the South Coast in June, and in small groups conducted skiing in Victoria, bushwalking in the Flinders and sea kayaking off Yorke Peninsula over the month of July.

The expeditions are a prelude to their environmental investigations which are 2,000 words in length and worth 30% of their grade.

View the video at the link below which was prepared by students and highlights the range of activities they have undertaken.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_QSkm4do6k

Film submissions - 2019 WOSOG (Westminster Old Scholar Outdoor Group) Film Festival

We are looking for films you have created that capture recent outdoor action, adventure or have environmental themes. Films capturing Outdoor Education camps and Duke of Edinburgh's Award trips are certainly welcomed, along with other preferred personal activities or adventures.

The WOSOG Film Festival will be on Sunday 15 September. It is an evening to celebrate and share recent outdoor experiences and achievements.

Entries (10 minutes maximum) will need to be submitted by the beginning of September.

This will be the fourth year we have run the event and we plan for it to be the biggest and best yet – hoping for over 100 guests this year.

There are first ($100), second ($50) and third ($25) Paddy Pallin gift voucher prizes, plus a guaranteed minimum $50 Paddy’s voucher for the best student video – judged by a Paddy Pallin staff member.

Any queries, please contact Mr Rob McLean ('99).

Please advise me if you intend to submit a film (whether it is finished or currently a work in progress).

Gordon Begg
Head of Outdoor Education