From the Principal

Value of School Camps

“The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.” - Mark Van Doren

I was delighted this week to spend time in the great outdoors as part of the Year 10 Camp to Forest Edge in Waroona. I enjoyed every second of the experience because I got to spend my day with the students and to witness them challenge themselves to push themselves beyond their paradigm.

Camps have been shown to reduce anxiety, increase connection to school, increase friendships amongst peers and increase efficacy - all strong markers of good mental health. They involve physical activity, working in small facilitated groups and they seek to immerse students in the beauty of the natural world away from the constant distraction of the electronic technological world of a normal adolescence experience – a combination that is highly effective in improving physical and mental wellbeing.

The three-day camp focused on building interpersonal and intrapersonal skills such as independence, resilience, leadership, communication and respect for self, others and the environment. The development of these skills and characteristics are critical in preparing our students for their future. 

My recent Year 10 Camp experience reinforced with me that teaching is about helping our students chase new discoveries and hunt for those magical epiphanies and moments of awe within their lives. It is about guiding them to connect the dots, yet giving them the space to figure out the complete picture on their own. It is about teaching them how to push themselves beyond what they themselves might even consider possible and to have the courage to be brave and view failure as part of their learning journey.

I smiled when my students gawked with wide-eyed surprise after jumping from the 10-metre pole, some even doing so blindfolded. I laughed with them when we all got soaking wet, some more so than others, when we headed out on the island bush walk. I held tightly to the first aid kit when they raced their go carts down the steep gravel driveway of the Forest Edge campsite. I admired their support of each other on the flying fox and the 20-metre abseiling wall. I saw the pride and joy on their faces when they conquered the challenge of the spiders’ web that needed them to work together as a team and I shared their elation when they supported each other to take the necessary calculated risks throughout the camp to find their own chance to shine. 

To me, the camp demonstrated the most rewarding part of being a teacher - knowing that every little nugget of learning will eventually add up to an enormous pot of gold. This week, I am very confident that there will be many tales told around dinner tables of the Year 10 St George’s Families. New and cherished friendships will undoubtedly emerge from our shared time away together. 

I am immensely grateful to all the staff that joined me on camp this week but most of all I’d like to sincerely thank the Year 10 students themselves for being such an incredible group of camp comrades and for being such wonderful company all week - in particularly of course the awesome Group 3!

As Year 10 Camp filled me with pride so did the OPTUS Stadium Sleepout where Team St George’s raised over $10,000 for the Anglicare Street Connect Bus which works to support homelessness in the city. 

Today was equally another exhilarating day on campus with our annual Open Day seeing over 150 families tour St George’s looking for a potential school for their child. 

It was wonderful to see our Year 11s lead the tours with such pride and to all of the Year 7 - 10 students a huge thank you for being such incredible ambassadors of the School. 

It was a terrific end to a wonderfully inspiring week full of all things Science in celebration of National Science Week. We certainly have much to celebrate as we head into the weekend and end of Term Three, Week Four, with Book Week ahead of us next week. {See pictures of all these events further on in today's newsletter.}

I wish everyone a fun-filled weekend - especially our Year 10s who, like me, will be relishing their wonderfully warm beds!

God Bless. 

Mrs Tina Campbell

PRINCIPAL