The Year 12 Leadership Experience takes place at the end of term three at the conclusion of the senior exams.  The major focus of the experience is learning about different leadership styles, providing challenges which require individual and group initiatives with an emphasis on extending students’ leadership skills.  This experience is an important part of the year 12 curriculum. It is integral to the personal and social development of our year 12 students as they prepare to lead the school in their final year.  The leadership camp is the start of our Year 12 students’ leadership programme and as such is a requirement for all year 12 students.  It builds on the skills and experiences gained in the previous years.  It involves learning the theory of different leadership styles followed by the opportunity to put this into practice in outdoor situations.

This year’s camp will take place at Camp Raglan from Monday 13^th September to Friday 17^th September inclusive.  This venue provides us with the facilities and opportunities for a varied and challenging camp.  The camp includes a variety of adventure activities such as surf rescue, bushcraft, caving, horse trekking, leadership activities and the chance to work with and for the community on an environmental project in conjunction with DOC and Environment Waikato.

This year we are fortunate that our students are also able to work with WILSS. The Waikato Institute for Leisure & Sport Studies has been delivering education in the Waikato region for past 18 years.  They are a charitable training provider registered with NZQA offering a range of programmes designed to enhance personal development and increase participants' contribution to sport and leisure.  The staff from WILSS are working closely with us and our Outdoor Education provider Bigfoot Adventures to put together a seamless programme that incorporates leadership skills and weaves them through the activities during the week.

To ensure that the experiences are challenging and that safety is paramount the school uses specialist and experienced outdoor education providers (Bigfoot Adventures) with a low student / instructor ratio to lead the students on all activities and manage the camp. A number of our staff will accompany the students for pastoral support and to provide assistance with some of the camp activities.