Thursday, 13 June, 2019 - 16:45
Students Visiting the NT for a School Camps and School Excursions

The Northern Territory offers the perfect outdoor learning environment to meet your curriculum requirements and cross-curriculum priorities. On a visit to the NT, students will engage in interactive, authentic activities provided by passionate and experienced operators. They will be inspired whilst gaining life skills in stimulating and captivating locations.

The Northern Territory’s story is as unique as the experiences on offer – rich, unparalleled heritage, culture and history, extraordinary geology, flora and fauna, leadingedge research and development in technology and renewable resources, remote health and education programs, and agricultural, pastoral and natural land management practices are just some of the opportunities available.

The NT offers some of the finest immersion experiences for youth in Australia, all collated in one easy to access resource, making it easier for schools to choose the right experiences for their students. NT Learning Adventures is an initiative of the NT Government’s Department of Tourism and Culture, within Tourism NT, and incorporates a group of local NT tour, transport, accommodation and attraction suppliers that all add value to the education market. Operators are well versed in the requirements for school excursions and can tailor a visit to suit. The resource incorporates relevant group accommodation contacts, suggested itineraries and contact details of interstate and intrastate tour/transport providers who will help you customise a tour.

The NT provides exclusive opportunities to incorporate cross curriculum priorities due to the close proximity to Asia, Aboriginal history and heritage and the sustainable living environments. Students will disconnect from screens and reconnect with nature, form life-long friendships and life-time memories

on their adventure into the Northern Territory. Students genuinely appreciate the real experiences the NT offers.

Students from Emerald College, on their 2018 NT tour commented

I’m really happy I chose to come on this trip. I’ll treasure the memories

I have made for the rest of my life.”

 “This has been a massive eyeopener and I’ll cherish the memories.”

One of the best experiences of my life. I loved seeing parts of Australia I had never been to.”

Add your chapter to the Northern Territory story with a customized NT Learning Adventure. You are guaranteed to have a memorable, once-in-a-lifetime experience in a rugged and inspirational destination.

Over the last 5 years, the department of Tourism and Culture has hosted annual teacher familiarisation trips to the Northern Territory to showcase some of the educational opportunities on offer, and how curriculum and cross-curriculum priorities are addressed. These tours alternate annually between the Red Centre and the Top End.

Wendy Kincses, a science teacher from Victoria said along with the memories there will be many opportunities to enrich her curriculum from her 2014 Central Australian famil. ”Much of the information given was probably more relevant to the History or Indigenous Studies curriculum, but I can see many links to science… I have a wealth of experiences from this trip to share with students. I hope I can inspire them to travel to Central Australia,” she said.

Natalie Wood, also a high school teacher from Victoria, echoed these sentiments and said schools should place more emphasis on Australian explorations rather than international trips, as she came to the realisation that our own backyard is rich with history and culture.

With everything we participate in on a school level, we need to be able to articulate the impact on the student learning experience. What NT Learning Adventures has achieved is having the tourism operators directly inform the schools of the educational purposes behind a trip to the NT,” she said. Natalie was successful in producing a proposal to offer a school trip to the Top End in place of a Gold Coast or international trip.

In 2015, ten teachers visited Darwin, Kakadu, Litchfield and Katherine. Not only did they have a fantastic time, but also learnt a great deal. One teacher commented on reflection

As an Indonesian and Humanities teacher, I have been able to discuss what I’ve learned about the live cattle trade with my students, following the visit to Mount Bundy Station near Darwin. Since returning from the trip, I taught my students how the Northern Territory (in particular Arnhem Land) has been linked to Indonesia for many, many years before white settlement – the students loved hearing about the similarities in language and culture.”

The 2017 tour took to the Top End, with one teacher saying

This experience has confirmed that the NT is definitely a place our students need to experience. I think it could be the most important tour that our students experience in Australia, given its vast landscape, history, culture and personal growth.”

Another teacher said,

This was an outstanding initiative, and I was extremely impressed with the quality of the experiences and the time that was devoted to professionals’ and teachers’ questions. I am very grateful for this experience and hope to be back with students very soon.”

The Central Australia 2018 familiarisation was a resounding success. South Australian teacher

Monica Megann commented

This journey into understanding and appreciation of the NT, in particular Indigenous culture, has been most rewarding and valuable. Highlights included engaging with local Aboriginal people, painting, cycling, camel riding, and the Desert and of course Uluru. I’ve come back a changed person.”

The trips are planned with Curriculum outcomes a primary focus. Catherine Jeffrey of NSW recognised this in her feedback

 “The experiences … have the potential to be utilised in both student and teacher educations. All of the indicated experiences were of high quality and had something to offer in the way of real life and authentic experiences. It is superb, very well planned and a diversity of experiences are offered.”

The annual teacher familiarisation trips are fully funded by Tourism NT and generally run during school holidays. The teachers hail from all over Australia from public, private and independent secondary schools and are individually selected based on their application. The 2019 tour will take place during April and will visit sites and experiences across the Top End of the Northern Territory.

If you are interested in participating on any future teacher familiarisations, you can send your expression of interest to [email protected]

Tourism NT also has school excursion funding of up to $1000 per school group visiting the NT on a school tour.  More information can be found at www.ntlearningadventures.com