Wilderness

Wilderness is an elective PDHPE subject offered to students in Years 9 to 12 at Chevalier College. It is an outdoor education based program that takes students away to beautiful wilderness areas to experience different outdoor activities. At its core, Wilderness Studies focuses on personal development and growth, developing what are loosely referred to as life skills.

Wilderness Studies has been operating at Chevalier for over forty years. The program is very unique as students can choose to study ‘Wildo’ as an elective subject which is a rare opportunity amongst schools in NSW. Being a full time elective subject allows us to go on more expeditions, to develop a broader range of skills and, ultimately, place our students in increasingly challenging scenarios that aim to develop them into competent young men and women.

Program objectives of the Wilderness Program include personal growth and development, connectedness and appreciation of the natural environment, development of a range of outdoor specific skills and awareness of risk minimisation strategies. Through exposing our students to a range of challenging experiences, we aim to push them outside of their comfort zones and enable the objectives of the program.

Following is an overview of the various hikes and expeditions offered by the Wilderness Program at Chev:

NOTE:
Year 11s transition to Year 12 studies in Term 4; therefore Year 12’s first expedition takes place during Term 4.