Kirrikee
St Andrew's operates an Outdoor Education Centre called Kirrikee in the Southern Highlands at Penrose, near Moss Vale, approximately a two hours drive from the City.
Outdoor education has been integrated into the School's co-curriculum program since 1982. Apart from providing a rural counterbalance to St Andrew's City location, outdoor education is of inestimable value in terms of students' maturity and personal development. For many students the Kirrikee camping program is the first time many pupils have experienced an outdoor lifestyle away from the modern comforts of home. Camps vary from overnight experiences for Primary students to 8-10 day expeditions for Year 10 students, especially those camps involving Duke of Edinburgh certification.
Since 1985 when the School acquired its 90 hectare site, Kirrikee has been progressively developed to undertake the School's teaching and environmental awareness program and outdoor education using appropriate camping and accommodation facilities. A number of cattle are grazed on the property.
The site provides a base for a comprehensive range of outdoor education activities, Duke of Edinburgh award assessment, environment studies, map reading, orienteering, first aid, bushwalking, abseiling and canoeing plus leadership and adventure training schemes utilising the ideal geographic setting and topography of the nearby Moreton National Park.
As students progress through sequential outdoor education experiences, camps at Kirrikee by successive year groups involve new and challenging activities. Programs are conducted and supervised according to rigorous safety requirements to maintain student welfare at all times. Students are not pushed beyond their capacity to undertake a task or confidently complete a procedure.
Kirrikee is derived from an aboriginal word meaning whistling kite, a native bird that lives in the Southern Highlands district.
