Camps Programs for Years 3 to 12

Oakleigh Grammar’s Mission is to create quality learning opportunities for every student to reach their potential. With that in mind, the Outdoor Education Program is designed to enhance the educational experiences for our students.

The program allows them to holistically develop their knowledge and skills in a variety of settings, through a range of practical, hands-on experiences.

All students from Years 3 to 12 have the opportunity to participate in an outdoor education program that offers appropriate challenges and complexity to encourage exploration of, and reflection about, the following elements:

Independence, self-confidence and resilience
Problem solving, teamwork, organisation, critical thinking and creativity
Leadership (especially to others that may not have roles at school)
Service to the community
Connection to the natural environment and increasing respect for, and understanding of, sustainable living practices
Resourcefulness, perseverance and determination, especially in new and challenging experiences and activities
Key personal and social competencies including wellbeing, empathy and tolerance

Across their time at Oakleigh Grammar students will be exposed to different physical environments, including coastal, mountain, forest, farm and river settings. Exposure to these different locations provides opportunities for students to build their understanding of relevant skills, through authentic application of these in different contexts. It also provides opportunities for the development of appreciation of the uniqueness of each setting visited. Students will have opportunities to flourish in a different environment to home, as they develop greater independence away from their families.

Click here to see all of our camps in action!

At Oakleigh Grammar, we seek to ensure that for all of our Outdoor Education programs, there are links to subject based and/or the pastoral care curriculum.

Year 3 – Lady Northcote, Bacchus Marsh

Based on the original village layout, the Lady Northcote Recreation Camp offers cabin-style lodge accommodation, providing a unique level of comfort in a natural bush setting. The camp is located 16kms from Bacchus Marsh, and about 75 minutes from Oakleigh. Students are accommodated in rooms for between 3 and 4 students with shared bathrooms. All meals are fully catered.

The camp provides an initial camp experience of spending three days, two nights away from home with their friends. Students are encouraged to develop independence and take responsibility in a different learning environment. During the time on camp the students will participate in a variety of activities including the giant swing, archery, low ropes, initiative games and raft building.

Year 4 – Don Bosco Camp, Safety Beach

Lyrebird Park is located at Yellington in the Yarra Ranges on 52 acres of natural bushland. Students stay in a lodge-style accommodation with a variety of shared bunk rooms around a central space. Additionally, each dormitory has a separate room with en suite facilities. All meals are fully catered for.

During time on camp, students participate in a range of team building activities to promote initiative, challenge, and leadership. The flying fox , rock climbing wall and group challenges are some of the favoured activities. Students attend for three days and two nights.

Year 5 – Phillip Island Adventure Resort

Situated on 80 acres of landscaped grounds in the heart of Phillip Island, the Adventure Resort offers a fully programmed ‘tent camping’ experience for Year 5. This program allows students to safely engage in a hands-on bush camping and cooking experience, while studying good environmental practice in seeming isolation, while at all times being a short stroll away from the rest of the resort facilities. Students will sleep in 3 large tents, with all equipment and infrastructure supplied. All meals are fully catered for.

During the time on camp the students will focus on a variety of fun bush camping activities as well as having opportunities to participate in things like initiative activities, raft building and beach exploration. A visit to Amazing Things and the Koala Sanctuary are always a highlight! Students attend for four days, three nights.

Year 6 – Camp Toolangi, Toolangi

Situated in the beautiful Yarra Ranges, Camp Toolangi is located on 12 acres of natural bushland adjoining the Toolangi State Forest. The students are accommodated in cabins sleeping between 4 and 7 students with shared bathrooms. All meals are fully catered and shared together. There are many fun and challenging activities that the students are able to participate in, including flying fox, rafting, high and low ropes courses, initiative games, canoeing and cubby building. Throughout each of these activities students are guided to develop skills of independence, perseverance, leadership and collaborative problem solving. In the evenings the students undertake a number of activities including a night walk to view the city lights. Students attend for four days and three nights.

Year 7 – UC Merricks Lodge, Merricks

Year 7 camp is located at Merricks on the serene Mornington Peninsula. Positioned between farmland and near Westernport Bay, the camp offers a wide variety of activities to challenge and engage students. Students are accommodated in cabins sleeping 4 students with shared bathrooms. Other than on the evening of the campout, all meals are fully catered and shared together.

There are many fun and challenging activities that the students are able to participate in including mountain biking, coastal walks, orienteering, kayaking, canoeing and several vertical challenges. Throughout each of these activities students are guided to develop skills of independence, perseverance, leadership and collaborative problem solving. The activities at Merricks also build connectivity across the year group to support the many new students who start at Oakleigh Grammar in Year 7.

Students attend for four days, three nights.

Year 8 – Karoondah Park, Gelantipy

Karoondah Park is situated on a working Hereford Stud farm surrounded by the Alpine and Snowy River National Parks, Wilderness Areas and State Forests. The camp provides a formative experience in the outdoors that challenges students in a holistic sense and is sensitive to each individual’s comfort zones and competence. There are many fun and challenging activities that the students are able to participate in including rafting, horse riding, abseiling, giant flying foxes and hiking. Students will also enjoy learning about the working farm and strolling freely around the farm in between activities and after dinner. Accommodation is in self-contained units sleeping 8 – 10 students. All meals are fully catered, are shared together and are beautiful home cooked meals!

Students attend for five days and four nights.

Year 9 – Bushwalking Expedition

The Wilson’s Prom Walk is a 3 day/2 night Bushwalking Expedition. Students are accompanied by staff and professional guides who support them in this challenging and rewarding self-catered experiences. Students carry their own food and tents and prepare their own meals. All equipment is supplied and students undertake training sessions before departing. The routes are achievable for novice bushwalkers, very scenic and water is available at each campsite.

The Prom is an iconic site and a famous National and Marine National Park. Located at the southernmost tip of mainland Australia, approximately a 3 hour drive from Melbourne, it offers spectacular scenery of huge granite mountains, open forest, rainforest, sweeping beaches and coastlines. It provides wonderful bushwalking opportunities.

Year 9 – City Experience

The Year 9 City Experience is designed to give students the confidence to independently explore the Melbourne CBD, giving them a taste of university life and exposing them to the many cultural delights, problems and experiences of this wonderful world city.

Students begin with a 2 day orientation experience in which students will travel from school into Melbourne’s CBD with their teachers. They attend the ACMI screen world exhibition and participate in an amazing race style activity run by Urban Quest.

During the full week program that follows, students travel independently and meet their teachers at a pre-organised point in Federation Square. From there, students participate in organised extra-curricular activities that support their academic studies. These include:

Culture: visit the Shrine of Remembrance and participate in a service, attend programs at the State Library and Old Court House
Art: admire and learn about Melbourne’s renowned street art and create a canvas of their own to take home
Health and Wellbeing: challenge themselves at indoor rock climbing, followed by a tour and National Sports Museum entry at the MCG.
Empathy and Resilience: learn about Melbourne’s homeless by participating in a tour and empathy workshop
History and Geography: go on a scenic and historical boat cruise and have lunch in Williamstown

Students are dismissed in the city at the end of each day and travel home independently.

The City Experience runs over 5 days at the end of Term 3.

Year 10 - Wombat Corner, Emerald

Wombat Corner is a refurbished historic guesthouse located in Emerald in the Dandenong Ranges only 50km from Melbourne. It is surrounded by Emerald Lake Park and Wright Forest. The surrounding area and the camp provide scope for a number of activities including water activities, abseiling, tree climbing and low ropes. Students are accommodated in shared bedrooms sleeping from 5 to 18 students, each with shared bathrooms. All meals are fully catered and shared together. Students develop awareness of their surrounding environment and their impact on it through participation in activities. Presentations provide strategies to develop an awareness of others and to develop the skills necessary to present an accurate overview of their abilities and interests for future studies.

Year 11 - Camp Rumbug, Foster North

The beautiful Camp Rumbug is located in the majestic hills of South Gippsland, two hours from Melbourne’s CBD and set in 200 acres of glorious temperate rainforest overlooking Wilsons Promontory National Park. Students are accommodated in shared bedrooms each with shared bathrooms. All meals are fully catered and shared together. Activities at the camp include crate climbing, canoeing, hiking and horse riding. Students develop confidence and character through these activities which also encourages leadership qualities. Presentations about healthy life styles and careers help students to establish strategies to enable them to make informed decisions about their future life choices and risk-taking activities.

Year 12 - Queenscliff

Whitehall Guesthouse is an historic guesthouse situated in the seaside town of Queenscliff. The property has large common areas that can be used for presentations and group activities, including a sheltered balcony and BBQ area. Students are accommodated in shared bedrooms sleeping between 2 to 10 students with shared bathrooms. Staff and students work together in the property’s large commercial kitchen and BBQ area to prepare and cook meals as the camp is self-catered.

The experience allows pastoral staff and students to develop relationships that will support students during their final year of secondary schooling and completion of the VCE. Activities throughout the camp guide students to develop a sound understanding of the VCE and its demands. Presentations assist students to establish and develop the organisational and time management skills required to make effective and efficient use of time and address strategies to develop healthy life styles and make informed decisions about risk taking activities. In addition, students participate in team building and collaborative problem solving by competing in group activities in the evening. The highlight for many is the ferry ride across the bay for lunch in Sorrento on the final day.