Western Australia Adventurous Activities School 2023

Western Australia recently held an Adventurous Activities School at the Scouts WA Adventure Centre in Manjedal where over sixty participants leapt to adventure in various activities including Abseiling, Bushwalking, Mountain biking, canoeing, and paddle boarding. Some participants also completed Provide First Aid and Wilderness First Aid.

Let’s hear from a participant (Joshua) and adult leader (Vicki) of their amazing time at Western Australia Adventurous Activities School 2023.

“I participated in the Adventurous Activities (AA) School in 2021 and through that earned my Certificate II in Outdoor Recreation. Since then I have gone on to earn my Certificate II in Workplace Skills and Certificate II Active Volunteering. By earning my Certificate II’s, I had also completed the equivalent of a C grade in one subject in Years 11 and 12. This allowed me to use the certificates as my sixth subject for Years 11 and 12, giving me a study period for my ATAR (tertiary entrance rank) subjects.”

“This has been a massive help with my study, giving me more time to work on my other subjects and reducing the amount of workload caused by school. I had enjoyed participating in the 2021 AA School, so I was eager to return to the 2023 AA School because I knew that I would enjoy it, given how much fun I had the first time.”

“At the 2023 AA school, I participated in the Wilderness First Aid Course for the first 3 days, before achieving my safe participant in mountain biking, pioneering, and stand-up-paddle boarding. Since I had already completed my Certificate II in Outdoor Recreation , I was able to join the Wilderness First Aid Class, and I was the only Venturer Scout who did so this time. This was not a problem, as I found both the instructors, and the rest of the class to be incredibly kind and helpful, and I really enjoyed the course.”

“We ran through lots of different scenarios of potential first aid incidents, and I learnt lots about how to manage these sorts of incidents. After the Wilderness First course was finished, I then went on to join the other Venturer Scouts with learning about mountain biking, where we explored many different trails in Langford Park, pioneering, where we built a massive rope bridge as a team, and stand-up paddle boarding, where we all learn how to stand up and not fall over, until we started to push each other in, of course.”

“From here, I have begun working on my Certificate III in Outdoor Leadership, directly progressing from my Certificate II in Outdoor Recreation. For the moment, I have been working mostly on schoolwork for this year, so I have still got work to do, but having the study lesson because of the Certificate II Outdoor Recreation has been a huge help. I will be going to the 2025 AA School when it comes around again, and I would recommend it to anyone who wished to learn more about Adventurous Activities in Scouts.” – Joshua (Venturer Scouts)

“As a regional leader, it is difficult to get to training weekends for adventurous activities. The Adventurous Activity School was a wonderful opportunity – not only did we get the chance to sign off some of our paperwork towards leading youth in several chosen activities, over the course of the week we also renewed our First Aid certificate and received Certificate II in Outdoor Recreation. Attending this School has allowed me to come that much closer to being able to helping the regional youth with higher Outdoor Adventure Skills adventures. Thanks to Daryn and the team for the opportunity!” – Vicki (Adult Leader)

Daryn, the organiser of the Western Australia Adventurous Activities School 2023 also shared few statistics and his personal thoughts of the experience. 

“29 Venturer Scouts received their Certificate II in Outdoor Recreation with an overall value of above 98k, measured by the average cost of the qualifications in Australia. A challenge WA has is for regional members of the organisation, and through this school their training was facilitated by spending the week in Perth and supported by the WA Branch through scholarships.”

” I am proud of how all the participants and facilitators faced new challenges, managed some really long days of learning, and gained some amazing skills to share with their Scout Groups. I hopes for an even bigger Adventurous Activities School for Western Australia in 2025.” – Daryn (Organiser of Western Australia Adventurous Activities School 2023

Adventurous Activities School are held occasionally around Australia by our branch teams. Stay tuned to the Scouts Australia website and your Branch communications for news about an Adventurous Activities School near you.

Learn more about the qualifications on offer through the Scouts Australia Institute of Training (SAIT) (RTO No. 5443) which recognises learning through Scouting and helps to translate it into nationally recognised training qualifications.