Year 4 Outdoor Education Program

Last week saw the Year 4 classes head to QCCC Mapleton for their Outdoor Education program.  After a morning of preparation at the College, the students wheeled their luggage to the awaiting buses and headed up the highway full of excitement and enthusiasm.  The first afternoon was the long awaited “Mud Challenge”, mimicking the days of the indigenous Bunya gatherings. Students earnt rewards by completing challenges like scrambling through the fig tree roots, building bridges to cross creeks and wading through mud.  As the skies turned dark and the storm approached, we headed back towards the comfort of warm showers and the dorms.  Our night was filled with delicious food, stories from long ago shared by local Kabi Kabi man Kerry Neill and we got to try lemon myrtle tea before bed.

The two days saw us blessed with blue skies as we continued our outdoor learning.  We looked at the impacts of colonisation on indigenous people and what life on the missions was like.  We had an art experience with local Kabi Kabi artist Jessica, got to try our hand at throwing spears and boomerangs with indigenous man Eli.  We were taken back to convict times in a role play that required us to build a raft to get across to Van Dieman’s Land before finishing the day with a bushtucker walk with Ochre Bee, where we learnt the indigenous use for many of the local rainforest plants.

I would like to thank the staff who supported students in their outdoor learning over the three days at Mapleton; Mrs Sarah Atkinson, Mr Joe Doran, Mrs Amanda Empson, Ms Pia Henriksen, Mrs Natalie Rollings, Mr Damian Davis, Ms Tegan Luker, Ms Karen McLean, Mr Kristan Fischer and Mr Cody Skinner. 

Ms Kim Wood, Head of Outdoor Education