Page 24 - 2020 Altiora Vol 72

24 |
24 | WHAT’S NEW
WHA
T’S NEW
EXPLORER TIME
EXPL ORER TIME
In March, prior to COVID-times, our Year 8 (Stage 4)
students travelled to our Outdoor Education Centre
Bungawarra for their very first session as part of the
inaugural Explorer Time initiative.
Explorer Time is a cross-curriculum project where
students will apply skills they have learnt in both
Geography and Science to a real-world setting.
They also get a taste of the types of experiences
and learning opportunities offered in the Stage 5
Elective Wilderness Education course. Over the
course of six ‘explorations’, students would focus on
building sustainable futures by restoring the quality
and uniqueness of the natural environment with a
purposeful bush regeneration project being their
final goal.
This first session was aimed at intentionally noticing
their surroundings, empathising with Indigenous elders
who taught the students about the spiritual value of the
landscape, and applying their skills of map reading to a fun
navigation quest.
As mentioned above, Science is another area in which
Explorer Time is integrated into the students’ curriculum.
Our Year 8 Science classes also made a trip to Bungawarra
where they were welcomed in the Wiradjuri language
by Uncle Ralph and Auntie Sharon, and with a smoking
ceremony. The students learned some of the Wiradjuri
language, tried the didgeridoo (boys) and clapping sticks
(girls) and learned the importance of these in Aboriginal
culture, totems and their symbolism, weaving in a yarning
circle, spear throwing and listening to stories of the
challenges faced by their people in this district.

NEW BUS FLEET
NEW BUS FLEET
One of the School’s new initiatives this year was to open new bus
routes to the lower Mountains. By mid-year, there were not only
the 13- and 25-seat shuttles travelling between the Springwood
and Wentworth Falls campuses, but a 57-seat bus had also joined
the fleet, with all three featuring eye-catching branding.

The additional service has provided families from the villages of
Lapstone and Yellow Rock/Winmalee the option of bus transport
in lieu of train travel.