Connecting to the environment

By immersing students in the environment, starting as early as kindergarten, they develop a relationship with the natural world. Connecting them to the beaches, bush, forests, deserts, mountains and waterways, combined with classroom study of challenges facing the environment, they understand their role in helping preserve and restore our nature. These experiential learning opportunities provide the platform to connect curriculum and real-world issues.

Experiencing the environment throughout the year levels:

Throughout the Christian College journey, from Early Learning, through Junior, Middle and Senior School, connection with our environment is a recurring theme in so many areas of play, learning and extracurricular activity.

Bush Kinder and Prep programs
Year 8 students connect to the Otways and Surfcoast environments over four days. Landforms and landscapes are learnt through an interdisciplinary approach. Skills are similarly developed in mountain biking, hiking and flat-water kayaking.
Year 9 students taking the Outdoor & Environmental elective incorporate practical experiences into each unit of study. Hiking through the secluded coves at Wilsons’s Promontory, students reflect and study ways this pristine environment should be managed into the future. Developing and refining their surf skills is also part of the program. They build confidence to safely interact with this amazing coastline.
Year 10 students at Senior School further expand their learning and skills by paddling through the internationally recognised Barmah Floodplains (Yorta Yorta country). They observe and study the biodiversity found in between the Red Gums and the Murray. Seasonal change is utilised in the study of risk, as students challenge themselves by climbing at Mount Arapiles (Autumn) or cross-country skiing at Lake Mountain (Winter).
Years 11 and 12 students who progress with Outdoor & Environmental studies in VCE continue to explore and investigate a diverse array of natural and human altered Victorian environments. From Geelong to the Surf Coast, across the volcanic plains to the Gariwerd (Grampians) and onto the Victorian Alps. Students participate in extended night journeys. These authentic experiences guide an analysis of humans’ impacts on the environment and nature’s own intrinsic value.