Summer has certainly made its presence felt in the past two weeks, ensuring that our girls in Years 2 to 4 have enjoyed their Water Safety lessons even more than usual! The girls undertook lessons across four days in Week 4, travelling to the Aquatic Centre and participating in group lessons aimed at building their confidence and capacity to keep themselves safe in the water. Our Reception and Year 1 girls will, I am sure, also enjoy their lessons coming up in Week 7 of this term.

Outdoor Education

Outdoor Education is a valued and significant learning entitlement for girls at Wilderness and all girls from Mamies through to Year 9 have learning experiences in this area. In the ELC, our littlest girls enjoy incursions, with a greatly anticipated first excursion for our Annie girls. In the Junior School, the girls in Reception and Year 1 have two day experiences, with a different environmental focus for each one. In Year 2, the girls have a day experience and their first – and much awaited – overnight experience with their Zoo Snooze.

In Year 3, the girls have an exciting two-night camp to Aldinga, where they engage in nature play and activities with an Indigenous focus. Our Year 4 cohort attend an amazing camp at Douglas Scrub, where the entire camp experience is a journey into literature inspired by the novel Walking the Boundaries by Jackie French. Similarly, our Year 5 girls have a literature-focussed camp with their first visit to our Outdoor Education campus, Crawford. The girls undertake a novel study of Colin Thiele’s Storm Boy, before spending three nights in the region where the novel is set, engaging in a range of experiences that enhance this learning.

Our Year 6 girls have a vastly different outdoor educational opportunity through their participation in a three-day bike riding experience called ‘Sea to Summit’. The girls ride bikes along Linear Park from the coast to the foothills, stopping along the way to engage in a range of diverse and nature-focussed activities. Our Year 5 and Year 6 girls also attend non-Outdoor Education-focussed interstate educational tours to Ballarat and Canberra, respectively.

We are very proud of our Outdoor Education program and the learning opportunities it affords our girls right from the beginning of their Wilderness journey. Please look out for many wonderful photos in Life in the Wilderness as these events occur throughout the year, with our first below, showcasing our beautiful Year 2s’ trip to Cleland Wildlife Park last week.

Year 2 Cleland Trip

In Week 3, the Year 2s went on their outdoor education excursion to Cleland. Here are some things that the Year 2s wanted to share about their visit to Cleland.

“We noticed that if you weren’t careful the potoroos will try and steal our food.”

“When feeding the kangaroos, we had to get down really low with lots of food in our hands so they could eat.”

“We got up close with Laraby the koala and learned that koalas like to eat eucalyptus leaves. They like to sleep for 20 hours a day and eat for four hours.”

“We used gardening gloves and tools to plant native seeds to help our environment. Some of the trees we planted were Golden Wattle and Sticky Hop Bush. We are very excited that they are going to be looked after at school and we can watch them grow.”

“We were very lucky to pat Merlin the bearded dragon and learned that we had to be very quiet so he doesn’t get scared and puff up.”

Year 2 Students

Early Pick-ups

A gentle reminder that, should you need to collect your daughter early from school, you must complete the online form and then come to the Main Front Office to collect her. Here, your daughter will need to sign out. We are unable to dismiss girls from the Junior School gate before 3.25pm. Ensuring our absentee system is accurate is key to us being able to keep your daughters safe and I thank you in advance for your support with this process.

Early Finish on the Last Day of Term

An early reminder that school will conclude at 1.00pm on the last day of this term, which is Thursday 6 April. Camp Australia will provide after school care on this day from 1.00pm if required. Please make your booking if needed at www.campaustralia.com.au.