The Scots College Adventure Academy program is truly an exciting and innovative program that aims to immerse students in challenge, adventure and real-life learning.
This ten-week program, based around three peak outdoor adventure experiences, aims to challenge and extend students beyond their Glengarry experience.
Alpine Expedition
The students begin the program immersed in what, for most, is a new experience: cross-country skiing. They put on their backpacks and ski into the backcountry, camping in the snow for two nights behind Perisher Village.
Canoe Expedition
Next, they settle into academics and paddle building at Glengarry. The paddle building project involves the students handcrafting their unique paddle from a chunk of Tasmanian blackwood. They use the paddle on their second expedition, a six-day 100km canoe trek from Kangaroo Valley to Bannockburn, the College’s active learning site.
During the boys’ experience at Bannockburn, they begin their mornings with surfing lessons followed by project-based learning. Boys learn cooking skills, farm maintenance, wood working, gardening, stewardship of the land and working with farm animals and machinery.
The boys also gain experience in working with horses. Students are teamed up with a horse with whom they bond and work alongside. The program starts slow as they learn to handle and then lead horses. Students then progress to riding the horses at a walk, trot and then canter pace – finally finishing with extended trail rides through the bush and creeks. The boys work with the same horse during their Adventure Academy experience and develop a great sense of pride and satisfaction in not only learning a new set of skills but also in communicating and caring for a 400kg animal.
Voyage Expedition
The final week of the boys’ experience in the program is spent sailing a tall ship, the Soren Larson, from Jervis Bay to Sydney. After sail training in the calm waters of the bay, the boys head out to sea and sail north. Students clean the decks and the heads, help in the galley and climb the mast to set and furl sails. They sit ‘watches’ at all hours and conclude their experience with a ‘command day’ where they sail the ship into Sydney Harbour, welcomed by their families.
Through adventure, curiosity, creativity and personal growth, Scots boys strive for excellence together.
To discover how your son can experience the adventure of the finest preparation for life, book a personal tour at The Scots College Bellevue Hill campus. www.scots.college/boarding-tours.
