Camps, Exchanges & Tours
Camps offer students engaging experiences while enabling them to learn about themselves and others. The Year 7 Orientation Camp aims to provide students with an experience that will help them develop constructive relationships with their peers and their teachers. Other camps are dependant on the subjects chosen by the students.
Due to ongoing COVID concerns we are currently not organising any overseas exchanges or tours. However, normally each year a number of our students spend time overseas in destinations such as France, Germany and the United States as participants in a variety of Exchange and Language programs. The College also hosts overseas students on exchange to Australia.
Year 7 Camp: Camp Marysville
As part of their Transition Education Experience, all Year 7 students attend a camp – held over recent years at Camp Marysville.
The camp is designed to:
- develop student confidence and self esteem
- foster new friendships
- enable staff and students to get to know one another better in a non-school environment
Year 8 Camp: City Discovery Camp
At the start of Term 3, all Year 8 students will be involved in the City Discovery Camp (CDC), based at Collins Street in the city. The City Discovery Camp has a primary focus on creating a greater sense of community and connectedness amongst each House Group and on providing a variety of different experiences to help the students learn more about our great city. Students travel as a group by public transport to the city.
After a briefing at the CYC campsite, students head off in groups to do their in-depth city research and meet back at CYC. This research is preparation for an Oral Task back at school in their English classes. After dinner, we take a tour of Marvel Stadium. On Day Two, there is a Wipeout session at MSAC in the morning, followed by a ride on the observation wheel Melbourne Star in the afternoon. The final day includes a tour and exploration of Queen Victoria Market (including food sampling). The program will change from year to year as the needs of the students change and the focus of the camp is fine tuned.
Year 9 Camp: Phillip Island Adventure Resort
As part of the Year 9 Personal Enrichment & Extension Program, the four day camp at Phillip Island Adventure Resort will allow the students to engage in a range of activities that will promote team-building and mixing, as well as leadership skills. Activities at the camp include: goal setting; raft building; flying fox; high ropes course; giant swing; challenge activities; surfing at Smith’s Beach.
As part of the college’s extensive Outdoor Education program, Year 9 students are given the opportunity to take part in the Wollongarra Camp, an outdoor adventure experience in the mountains of East Gippsland. This consists of a week-long camp at ‘Wollongarra’ on the banks of the Macalister River near Licola. Students enter the camp on a flying fox and then participate in various farm and outdoor activities, as well as a three day hike in the magnificent high country of the Great Dividing Range. The camp is a real life adventure and an extremely rewarding experience for students of all ages; new friendships are made, exciting adventures are had and a whole new way of life is experienced.
Year 10 Camp: Central Australia
Students have the option to attend a 12-day trip through the middle of Australia at the end of Term 3 and into the Term 3 holidays. Starting at school, students travel express by bus to Uluru where they set up camp for a couple of nights and enjoy the wonders of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. From here we travel to Kings Canyon, Alice Springs, Daly Waters, Katherine, Kakadu National Park and Darwin – from where we fly home. Students engage with, and learn about, Australia’s diverse environment and culture throughout the 12 days.
Year 11 Camp: Ski Trip
Students in Year 11 have the option to attend a 4-day Ski Trip at the start of Term 3. Accommodation is provided at Mansfield, with students being taken up Mt Buller each day to engage in ski/snowboard lessons and practice their new skills.
Year 12 Conference
At the start of Term 1, all Year 12 students attend a conference in the City as an introduction to their final school year. Students participate in a range of workshops centred on study skills and physical and mental health and wellbeing. They hear from a number of guest speakers including past students of Vermont SC.
Exchanges & Tours
With current travel restriction due to COVID 19 we are currently not organising any overseas exchanges or tours. However, normally each year a number of our students spend time overseas in destinations such as France, Germany and the United States as participants in a variety of Exchange and Language programs. The College also hosts overseas students on exchange to Australia.
German Reciprocal Exchange with IGS Kaufungen (Hessen)
Our Exchange with our sister school in Kaufungen is in its 25th year and we are very pleased that the German reciprocal exchange continue to give the opportunity to many years 9 and 10 VSC students to welcome their exchange partners into Vermont SC and their families each year in October. The Vermont SC students return on exchange in March the following year; they spend time at our sister school and also travel to various cities around Germany, which makes it an unforgettable experience. We have a strong bond with our sister school in Kaufungen and the friendships built between exchange partners and families last beyond high school life.
French Tour
The French Study Tour takes place in the September school holidays and includes visits to world-famous monuments, galleries and castles, such as the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame Cathedral, the Louvre Museum the Mont-St-Michel and the Loire Valley. In addition, the trip gives students a cultural insight into French life, history and language. Obviously, a comprehensive visit of Paris is a must and students also have the opportunity to experience daily life in a French family home. The tour runs for 2 weeks and its main goal is for students to access an authentic experience of what France has to offer and enhance their understanding of the language and culture. This Tour is open to students in Years 8 to 11, who preferably are French learners.
Vietnam Tour
The Vietnam & Cambodia Study Tour offered students an authentic experience beyond the classroom by immersing them in living history and culture. Students gained an invaluable experience that provided a greater understanding of history and enhanced their understanding of, and empathy for, their Asian neighbours. It was also a chance to provide some aid to those in need at orphanages and a school for the deaf. This opportunity and its inherent rewards engaged students and motivated them in their future studies as well as contributing to their global consciousness.
G’Day USA
LAround every three years, VSC sends a group of students on the Educational World Travel G’Day USA Tour. The tour is 19 days long and sees the group travel to the west coast of the United States of America to Los Angeles, San Fransisco and San Diego. Students will experience many famous places including Disneyland, Hollywood, Universal Studios and the Golden Gate Bridge, but the most rewarding experience from the tour consists of a 10 day home stay with a host family. This optional tour is open to all students from years 8-12.