An Innovation in Education

In 2008, we embarked upon an exciting innovation in education for adolescent boys on the Southern Yorke Peninsula. Each term, a class of Year 9 students participate in a four-week extended stay program based at the Wambana Campus at Point Turton. The purpose of the extended stay program is to focus on five key elements of boys learning:

• Social and Emotional development
• Adventure and Challenge
• An affirmation of adolescence growth and development
• An academic program dictated by the natural environment
• Contributing to Community Service

The extended stay program was intoduced to complement the Middle Years Program (MYP). We believe that boys can be better prepared for the transition between boyhood to manhood through an educational program that is grounded in experience. Our extended stay program provides a  curriculum that fully integrates real life experiences and goes beyond single subjects towards a curriculum that becomes a lived experience.

The program is a significant experience in the life of Year 9 boys. Living away from home for four weeks provides many challenges and opportunities. Deciding what to shop for, what to eat, when and how to cook, clean, wash and the myriad of other domestic tasks  becomes a major focus of life for each student. There are other personal challenges that each student will come to terms. It may be the first time they have been separated from their family for an extended period. Learning to cope and understand how to live with other people's idiosyncrasies provides a rich environment for forming a better understanding of what it means to become an adult and gain a truer understanding of one's own place in the world.

The extended stay program allows students to take control and responsibility for what they do and what they wish to learn. At times the curriculum will be negotiated between students and leaders in a collaborative manner. Students are encouraged to follow their own directions so they can create the future they want to live in.