From the Leadership Team

Stronger Together: Camps 2026

Mr Jon Williams, Deputy Head of Senior School

Term 1 is always a brilliantly busy beginning to the academic year. We welcome our new Prep and Year 7 cohorts, settle back into the rhythms of school life, and begin to acknowledge the many significant “last times” for our Year 12 students. The Year 7 camp at Golden Valleys marks the commencement of our camp program, creating shared experiences that strengthen connection and culture.

At Kilvington, however, the camp journey begins much earlier. From Year 3, students step beyond the classroom to learn through shared experience, challenge and adventure. These early camps help build independence and confidence, laying the foundations for the deeper connections and personal growth that develop through the Senior School years.

Over the past two years, our Camp Review Committee oversaw the intentional redesign of our camps for Years 7, 8, 10 and 11 with a clear purpose at their heart: connection. Providing opportunities for students to connect more broadly and deeply with their cohort is one of the most powerful ways we nurture cohesion and collaboration across the Senior School. While each camp differs in structure and focus, they are united by this shared aim.

The Year 7 team, led by Ms Broughton, invested significant energy into planning and delivering this year’s camp. I was fortunate to spend a day visiting, and the care that guided the preparation was immediately evident. From the moment I arrived, there was a palpable sense of belonging. New friendships were taking shape at the breakfast table, laughter carried across the campsite during team challenges, and staff and students embraced each opportunity together against the backdrop of the beautiful Mornington Peninsula National Park.

What struck me most was not any single activity, but the spirit in which they were undertaken. Encouragement was instinctive. Small acts of reassurance were offered without fanfare. Students seemed increasingly at ease with one another, and with their teachers. These moments reminded me that some of the most significant learning occurs in experiences that cannot be neatly timetabled.

At Year 7, the focus is firmly on belonging. Early in their Senior School journey, students are establishing friendships and discovering their place within a larger community. Camp provides a shared narrative, a collective memory that quietly affirms, “We did this together.” Removed from familiar comforts, students are invited to look beyond themselves and notice when a peer needs encouragement or reassurance. It is often through these understated acts of support that genuine connection is formed. Students are afforded the opportunity to embody our motto; “Not for our own but others’ good”. 

In Year 8, the emphasis shifts towards strengthening trust and deepening collaboration. Students are encouraged to communicate clearly, to rely on one another in new contexts, and to step into leadership in small but meaningful ways. We regularly witness quiet confidence emerging in these environments. The student who hesitates in the classroom may lead decisively on a hiking trail. The one who prefers the background may offer steady encouragement out in the surf.

In Year 9, the camp experience reaches a significant milestone through the Transformative Expeditions, one of the most defining experiences in a Kilvington education. Taking place in Term 3, these expeditions challenge students socially, culturally and physically as they travel to Great Southwest Victoria, Far North Queensland or Cambodia. Each expedition requires considerable preparation, maturity and grit. Students are taken out of their comfort zones, often discovering strengths they did not know they possessed. They return with a deep sense of accomplishment, stronger connection with their peers, and a renewed appreciation for community and perspective.

For our students in Years 10 and 11, camps increasingly centre on reflection, responsibility and service. As independence grows, so too does the capacity to lead with empathy. Shared challenge has a way of humanising us all. When students see their teachers navigating the same hikes, embracing the same early mornings and attempting the same activities, relationships are strengthened through mutual respect. The dynamic shifts. Conversations deepen. Understanding broadens.

Our camps are far more than a welcome change of scenery. They are a vital part of our students’ personal growth and leadership development. Around campfires, across team challenges and during moments of quiet reflection, students learn patience, practise encouragement and discover that resilience is most powerful when shared. 

Next week, our Year 6 students will travel to Canberra, an important milestone in their camp journey. As they explore our nation's capital, we wish them a memorable experience filled with curiosity, connection and discovery.

As I left the Year 7 camp, I was reminded that these experiences shape the culture of our school in enduring ways. Camps are not an interruption to learning, they are an essential expression of it.