Purpose

Woorabinda’s purpose is to facilitate the building of a close-knit community with a group of students. This community supports the development of each student’s personal and social capability through exploratory and adventure-based activities outdoors, as well as communal living. Woorabinda’s outdoor classrooms offer students a chance to develop in ‘real world’ environments, away from the comforts and routines of the mainstream classroom. Resilience is developed outdoors through persistence, adaptability, and aided by support from their community connections. Students will discover an appreciation of the natural world, as well as recognise their place in it, through exploring the bushland and lake, as well as adopting sustainable practices in their Woorabinda ‘home’. They will make links between their food and where it comes from, through getting their hands dirty on our farm, as well as contrast agriculture with the indigenous history and practices of our local area. Woorabinda lays the foundation for further outdoor education experiences later in life and will give students the confidence within themselves to grow and develop into courteous, cooperative and considerate citizens.

 

The Woorabinda Curriculum

The curriculum at Woorabinda centres firmly around the building of a Community. This is achieved by utilising the framework of the 3C’s- Courtesy, Consideration and Cooperation. This framework is imbedded into all aspects of our programs, and links Community to our other realms of focus- Resilience, Sustainable Living and Nature Immersion. These 3 realms require collaboration, self-awareness and management, social-awareness and management, as well as consideration of personal and collective impacts on our environment- all of which underpin the building of a community.

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Resilience focusses on self-awareness and management, and requires students to develop persistence and adaptability, as well as independence. This is achieved by exposing students to a variety of challenges where they may be supported by their community.

 

Sustainable Living requires consideration of how we impact our environment through lifestyle choices and practices, and the adoption of informed, sustainable daily habits. Students adopt daily routines at Woorabinda such as choosing appropriate food portions, sorting waste, resource saving habits and are also exposed to real-life food production as well as renewable energy technologies. Through this, they develop an understanding of how to live more sustainably, with habits that they can take home and implement.

 

Nature Immersion is achieved through exploration of the local environment, which includes native bushland, lake, and farmland. Through these explorations, students investigate how living things survive and interact, as well as develop their appreciation for the natural environment and its’ wonders. They reflect upon the connections between themselves and our environment, and the impacts that we personally, collectively and historically have had.