In November 2024, VAPS will run a PIPS Camp.

Express interest via this form - please note we ran out of available places at the camp last year. Please register early.

Early bookings are essential for this event, as many things (such as accomodation) need to be organised well in advance.

In November 2023, VAPS held its first Philosophy Camp.

The camp was attended by 6 different schools and was hosted at the Narmbool Lodge, maintained by Sovereign Hill. Narmbool is primarily a science and environmental camp program. VAPS collaborated with Sovereign Hill educators on programming, with educators providing stimuli and VAPS leaders then facilitating philosophical communities of inquiry about that stimuli.

In 2024, VAPS will run a multi-school philosophy camp in November this year in Ballarat. We ran our first camp in Nov 2023 in the same way and it was a roaring success.

This camp will be for students in Year 5 - 9 and run for 4 nights / 5 days from 18 - 22 November.

The anticipated cost for the camp is $600 (final price to be determined).

VAPS has run Middle Years PIPS (Philosophy in Public Spaces) excursions for over a decade in Melbourne. This is an expansion of our PIPS program to provide an immersive 5 day philosophical experience for students.

More details are available to view here.

If schools are interested, please contact us via this email or by submitting this form.

VAPS will provide all documents, including details about the camp, itinerary, risk assessments, and a completed DE risk register to all schools to reduce administrative burden and make it easy for full principal / school council approval.

There are limited spaces available.

Steps to confirm a place:

Reply here or fill in the EOI form
Inform VAPS of tentative principal approval (pending full documentation). This will secure a place for your school.
Inform VAPS of full approval of principal / school council.

Some testimonials from PIPS in 2023 are below:

From all accounts, our students had an absolute blast. They loved every aspect of the camp; the location, mixing with other schools, the activities and the discussions. Most of them said they loved the discussions more than anything! You have provided my students with opportunities to engage in new ideas with new people and it has really taken hold. Thank you.

I was surprised to hear that this is the first time you have run a Philosophy Camp – it seemed so intentional and seamless. I’m afraid my feedback form won’t be terribly helpful as it will simply be glowing. I was not only taking notes for how to implement Philosophical Inquiry across the school, I also took numerous notes on how to run a camp (and I have been on many camps in my time). To be honest, I’m not sure our school will have any camps that aren’t Philosophy Camps in the near future!

Principal - Government Primary School

I loved the environment, it was a great place for me to grow and think critically with peers. I was exposed to different perspectives which enabled me to develop deeper ideas. It was a great opportunity.

Student - Government secondary school

“PiPS, to put it simply, was life changing. My peers and I had the opportunity to interact with discussions put forward by a variety of schools and stimuli. I was able to delve under the shallow surface of the way we are taught to think and have a taste of what philosophy really is.”

Student - Government secondary school

From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Today was a truly special day... it is wonderful that these events allow the students to experience the act of deep thinking and listening with students who they haven’t met before. That is so cool... There were many goosebumps moments for me listening to the thoughts of our students in these group discussions... I was so proud of all of our kids – and kids from the other schools too.

Teacher - Non-government primary school

Please register your interest via this form.

Events Calendar

2024

September

October

November