North West Christian School highly values the development of character in its students.  Experience has shown that the harmonious development of physical, mental, social and spiritual domains lead to greater results in each.  One of the essential initiatives in this endeavour is the Outdoor Education program.  Students in this program are facilitated through adventure experiences that are challenging and require them to step outside, and step outside their comfort zone.  Particular emphasis is placed on the cardinal virtues of Wisdom, Bravery, Temperance and Justice.  From the student’s perspective they are paddling a kayak through a rapid or climbing a mountain, reading their environment or harnessed to a rope.  Unwittingly however they are being facilitated through experiences that sharpen these virtues.  Being often in wilderness areas ensures natural consequences of decisions and provides students with a treasure of experiential learning from real moments they own.  The reflection and debrief process helps students to realise these precious moments and better apply them to their own life in the future.

Being immersed in pristine natural environments cannot help but instil in the students an appreciation of the beauty and value of these wild places and the Author of them.

Students exercise their right of ‘Challenge by Choice’ in the acceptance of the adventurous pursuit with its perceived risks.  This empowers them to choose to participate or not without fear or ridicule.  This is most important as it means the growth is theirs own not someone else’s.  This is because they chose to accept this challenge and therefore they get the reward, the refinement as gold, and the triumph of a high achievement.

Joel Ackland.