20 February 2026
During Weeks 2 and 3, the Outdoor Education team had the pleasure of welcoming Year 7 students, new and existing, to our Finniss campsite.
Year 7 Lead In Camps are a wonderful opportunity for students to develop new friendships and strengthen connections with peers. It is also an insightful time for staff to observe student interactions in an environment away from the traditional classroom.
This overnight experience saw each mentor class participate in a four-activity rotation. Canoeing is an activity that tests communication in pairs. With a partner, students paddled the Finniss Lagoon and came together to play raft games, in which all of the canoes are joined together.
Also at the lagoon, in small groups, students were tasked with building a raft that they could board and successfully paddle through the water. With materials including planks of wood, barrels, tyre tubes and ropes, groups fashioned all sorts of vehicles in the hope of making it out to a buoy and back with their raft in one piece. The structural integrity of some were questionable but thankfully the novelty of splashing around in the water made up for it.
Students also participated in cycling the Finniss bike track. While an individual endeavour, cycling shows us those who will persist to learn a new skill or improve an existing skill. Congratulations to those students who pushed themselves; whether on a bike for the first time, learning the correct stance for rolling over a feature, or outriding Jack and Tim on the trail!
Finally, classes spent time getting to know each other through initiatives designed to promote discussions between classmates. Students were tasked with building a “super-team” based on an ideal balance of character strengths. Once formed, they competed in a bean-bag launching competition on the oval using the Finniss catapults. Once they got the hang of it, this activity was a hit!
Dinner and breakfast the following morning was a group affair, with those who are keen cooks helping to prepare a BBQ dinner and bacon & egg rolls for breakfast. The sense of community is apparent when you see students gathered around the preparation tables and BBQ’s working together to produce a meal.
Thank you to the Outdoor Education facilitators and Year 7 mentor teachers for their care of the students during their stay. We look forward to seeing the students grow throughout the year and will journey with them through Mount Crawford Forest on Year 7 Camp in Term 4.
Lisa Rowlands
Outdoor Education Program Manager
