Adventure Education

As many of you know, I love adventures. I find them energising, challenging, life giving! I even list ‘Adventurer’ at the top of my LinkedIn profile as it’s something truly significant about me.

Just last week I shared one of my recent adventures at our Junior Primary Assembly. Cape Leveque sits over 4,385kms from St Andrew’s School, perched at the top of the Dampier Peninsula in Western Australia. It’s a truly remote location, and home to Australia’s oldest pearl farm; Cygnet Bay Pearls. I shared a treasure from this adventure with our students, a mother of pearl shell, allowing them to feel the rough outer layer and its silky, mirror-like interior.

Adventures bring a sense of wonder. A sense of ‘what could be.’ A sense of the unknown and the unseen. The best adventures demand high levels of goal setting, planning and preparation. They require the application of the explicitly taught skills in the core subject areas of Mathematics, English and the Sciences. Adventures breed perseverance and passion. Adventure leads to a stronger sense of self, and even of service to others. We know that in our ever-changing world, this is central to success and that’s why I believe adventures lie at the very heart of the best schools.

In 2024 we will launch Adventure Education at St Andrew’s School. It will add to and build upon the wide range of opportunities our students currently have in this space. It will streamline, embed, and enhance the diverse offerings at our co-educational School. We are in talks with a range of local, national, and international bodies who have alignment with our desire to see the advancement of adventurous opportunities for our students at St Andrew’s School.

We look forward to sharing more with you in the coming months. In the meantime, I encourage you to plan your next adventure with your child. Be it a local hike on a Saturday afternoon, a shared design and construction project, serving in and supporting a local charity, an overnight camping trip in Kuitpo Forest or, if you’re bold and courageous, the 45-hour drive across Australia’s remote centre to the majestic waters at the Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm.