Pupils at Kaikoura High School are looking outside the classroom as they come to grips with life after the November 2016 earthquake that rocked their closely-knit community.

Staff and students are excited by the latest addition to their curriculum - a concentrated outdoor education programme.

This innovative initiative will involve one four-day senior bush camp, a four-day junior camp, eight single-day sea kayaking trips, two five-day waka ama expeditions and a six-day Clarence River rafting trip.

The 2018 pilot programme will be run in partnership with Spot Tasman and Whenua Iti Outdoors, a provider of outdoor courses based near Motueka, who have been contracted to provide a specialised programme for Kaikoura youth.

Kaikoura HS principal John Tait is sold on the concept, which aims to equip students with the skills and judgement to be capable of operating independently in the outdoors.

“You can’t do it from inside the classroom,” said Tait. “You don’t get your heart and soul into it from inside the classroom, your head gets there, but not the rest of you.

“It’s one of those post-earthquake initiatives that will help students in their life balance …”

A Kaikoura Sport and Recreation Leadership Team was established in early 2017, made up of representatives from council, community, Te Runanga o Kaikoura and Sport Tasman. Their challenge has been to keep sport and recreation running in a post-disaster environment, and to build for the future.

They team felt there was a demand for sport to be given a special place in the recovery effort and they enlisted Sport Tasman’s help to work with the high school on an outdoor education plan.

“Sport Tasman have been the broker. They found the funding - $65,000 worth – and $65,000 worth of programmes are being delivered to our students through Whenua Iti. Some of the activities will happen up in the Tasman Bay area and some are here,” explained Tait.

The first outing of the year was meant to be a waka ama expedition in February, but Mother Nature had the final say.

“Unfortunately we had a couple of weather events which meant it had to be postponed, and we had the road shut anyway so the kids couldn’t get up to Abel Tasman, that was a shame.”

Tait said the planned activities had been well received by the students. “There is high excitement. They were very annoyed that the weather stopped them going north for the waka ama trip, but they have a bush camp coming up soon.”

Kaikoura HS, which caters for students from year 7-13, has always run an outdoor education programme. In the junior school it has been facilitated through camps and the PE department, while the senior school had previously undertaken outdoor education classes, which earn NZQA credits at level two and three.

However, the new venture takes it a step further.

“We have focussed a lot on junior students … because our specific outdoor ed programme is using the senior school. The junior programme is not as intensive, just part of the PE programme. Camps are an experience in themselves, but these are more challenging adventures for young people to learn new skills.

“It’s about getting some challenging outdoor experiences for students who might not otherwise do that kind of thing – because it’s not part of their life or may be too expensive.”

Tait felt that outdoor education also had environmental and social benefits. “It’s as much in the health and well-being area as it is about picking up outdoor education skills.”

“We are really grateful for the awesome effort by Sport Tasman to get the money together … their aim is to put the money together for a second year  … but in the meantime what we have to do, as a school, is to think about sustainability – how can we keep this kind of thing going?

“We have linked in with the Department of Conservation, exploring possibilities in that area. Such as collecting seeds, planting them at the school, replanting the seedlings. It’s not just about the activity itself it’s about environmental awareness as well.

 “If kids don’t experience it, they don’t have any skin in the game. When outdoor education programmes in NZ thrive then you have got a cohort of young people that will carry that knowledge and respect for the environment into the next generation. That’s really important because while lots of New Zealanders think we look after our environment, we are actually not - not really.

“If we want to get people who are committed enough to make change in the future then I think these are the kind of things that will do it,” Tait added.