Outdoor Education

Outdoor Education takes place both within and beyond our campuses. All students take on experiential challenges that build resilience, collaboration and leadership through a carefully planned age-appropriate experiences.

Research shows that exposure to nature, can help individuals to develop empathy, become environmental stewards and sustain their wellbeing, and this goes to the heart of the UWC Mission. This is why at UWCSEA regular exposure to natural environments in outdoor learning spaces are valued extensions of our classrooms and built into all elements of the learning programme.

Students are regularly given opportunities to observe and investigate the natural world around them while safely challenging their own capabilities, both independently and with others. For all grades, this includes exploring the campus gardens and other natural spaces as part of the school day.

Whether exploring the natural environment on campus in K1, learning about water filtration in Grade 3 or taking on our High Ropes course in Grade 8, students develop confidence in their physical abilities and the emotional resilience to withstand difficult situations.

Achievements in outdoor education are recorded through student reflections and demonstrated in the character, skills, qualities and maturity that students develop and apply across all aspects of the learning programme and in their lives.

Research

UWCSEA partnered with Oregon State University-Cascades to conduct a longitudinal study into the impacts of outdoor education. Findings present compelling evidence in support of the long-term benefits for students of an intentional Outdoor Education programme. Learn more

Outdoor Education programme

K–12 Standards

Informed by our mission, values and educational goal, the Standards that underpin our Outdoor Education programme reflect both the needs of our students and our location in Singapore.

Grounded in research-based best practice, these standards are the significant concepts we apply to the outdoor learning programme we develop for all students K–12. Students revisit these concepts each year as they transition from grade to grade. The examples given in the school sections are connected to the idea of developing skills for life, although all four standards are interwoven in nature.

Connecting to nature

Through regular exposure to the natural environment, our students are given age-appropriate opportunities to develop empathy with the natural world, become environmental stewards and to sustain their wellbeing. Allowing students to disconnect from the distractions of technology and reconnect with nature, helps them to develop an awareness of the environment, which in turn supports our commitment to sustainability.

Outdoor experiences also provide an avenue for them to explore the natural environment in a safe setting, to learn from mistakes and develop perseverance.

Discovery of self and others

In being given opportunities to recognise and regulate their own actions, our students are encouraged to make decisions that support their own health and wellbeing, and that of others. Students begin to see themselves and one another in a different light, as strengths not visible in their day to day lives and classrooms become apparent. Confidence, resilience, and problem solving skills improve as they work to complete essential tasks, and realise the benefits of communication and collaboration with others in order to succeed in tasks such as setting up camp or preparing a meal.

All our outdoor activities are designed to draw from students a greater range of skills and talents than they knew they possessed.

Building community and supporting wellbeing

Students are often surprised to find within themselves the determination, adaptability and teamwork needed to rise to the challenges that our outdoor programme presents. Our students learn to make decisions that support the health and wellbeing of themselves and others, which in turn helps them to develop a sense of belonging, and contributes to individual and community well-being.

Developing skills for life

While developing practical skills is not our end goal, these skills are the building blocks that allow us to access the situations where the learning outcomes around self, relationships to others and a connectedness to nature that are intended in the other three standards, can take place.

Practical 'expedition skills' are developed through activities at age-appropriate levels in the areas of travel, navigation, camp craft and personal and group safety.

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