Adventurous Journey. The boys were in a group sleeping arrangement in tents, like those when at Boyle Lodge. Many boys now know what to take in their packs and what to leave behind. Cooking skills will be improved, too. The lesson of ‘cotton is rotten’ was hammered home to many in the rain. YEAR 10 ADVENTUROUS JOURNEY Year 10 Outdoor Education is well integrated into the Immerse & Inspire programme. I have seen the boys who have come through the Year 9 camps better prepared for the challenging week in Year 10. This year, the programme was again disrupted by Covid-19 and the flu, meaning rescheduling, or restructuring of each group. However, all boys willing to obtain their Bronze Adventurous Journey were given the opportunity to do so. Thank you to the Boyle River Outdoor Education Centre for making the necessary changes. Once again, the centre went above and beyond to make it happen. The boys who went to the Boyle River Outdoor Education Centre did so as part of the four-week Immerse & Inspire programme. All Year 10 boys are given the opportunity to be registered in the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Hillary Award. By completing the week at Boyle, the boys could achieve their Adventurous Journey section of the award. Under the format, they had two nights out in the Boyle River area, learning the camping and tramping skills necessary to plan and participate in their own tramping trip. On Wednesday, they were back at the base camp to participate in a variety of group- based activities, including high and low-rope challenges and night activities. On Thursday, they were set an area in Lewis Pass to plan their group tramp to complete the Adventurous Journey section of the Duke of Edinburgh Hillary Award. This involved an overnight tramp to a campsite. On Friday, they returned to the lodge to travel
back to College. It is a demanding week for many boys, which is the aim of the Hillary Award – to immerse and challenge the boys in the environment and develop their spirit of adventure and discovery. The goal is now for the boys to take this outdoor tramping experience to the next level by heading out on more trips into the wilderness. Boys who have been on this week will also qualify for the Black and White level in the Discovery and Challenge section of the College Diploma. If the boys complete their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award, then this will give them a Silver level of both the Service and Discovery sections of the College Diploma. Again in 2023, we have more boys completing their Silver and Gold Award Adventurous Journey in the Duke of Edinburgh Award via Boyle River, Spirit of Adventure, Outward Bound, Peel Forest or Bushworks providers. Another option that is growing in popularity is achieving these levels via the College Venture Group run by Dr Tom Hawkins. We have again run two College Silver and Gold Adventurous Journeys this year. WEEK-LONG JOURNEY A significant addition to our outdoor programme was our initiative with Boyle River in the April and September holidays. We arranged a Silver/Gold Duke of Edinburgh training day and then the completion of both Adventurous Journeys in one trip. It was a seven-day tramping
and mountain-biking Adventurous Journey. The boys left Lewis Pass via Ada Pass, and after crossing the Waiau River, experienced the majesty of Lake Guyon. They then tramped through the third and final pass, Fowlers Pass. There they collected their mountain bikes and completed the next part of the programme by biking sections of the St James Cycleway. In the mountain- biking section, some visited natural hot springs and their journey finished in Hanmer Springs and with a dip in the thermal pools. In all, 43 boys completed this journey, plus another 13 boys completed a four-day practice/qualifying journey during the two holiday periods. With the Years 10 and 11 boys finishing this week and completing their Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award, they were able to complete their Gold level of Service and Discovery in the College Diploma. We will continue this initiative and again thank Boyle River for structuring this programme. DUKE OF EDINBURGH’S HILLARY AWARD I am pleased to see more boys heading into the wilderness and learning to challenge themselves through the outdoors. The Duke of Edinburgh programme is making significant progress, as can be seen in the table below. Our Outdoor Education programme is enabling more boys to complete the Duke of Edinburgh Award.
DUKE OF EDINBURGH’S HILLARY AWARD
Gold (since left)
Total completed
Bronze Silver
Gold
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Total
1
1
18 47 34 58
1
19 51 49 83
4
12 19 14 46 95
3 6 8 5
101 122 381
2
125 173 501
23
2
185
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