This region offers excellent school excursion opportunities with a variety of natural features such as wetlands & dune systems, many marine-base activities such as guided snorkelling & sea-kayaking, industries such as coal & wine, a great example of an urban decay & renewal site, a RAAF fighter base, & much more.
We have designed school excursion itineraries in this region which can focus entirely on Stage 4, 5 & 6 Geography, or a combination of Geography, Business Studies, Economics, Environmental Science, Aboriginal Studies, Biology and Marine Studies to name a few.
Activities can include a Dolphin & Whale Watch cruise with boom-netting and waterslides, handfeeding sharks & stingrays, guided bush tucker and National Parks Discovery Tours covering a variety of topics, guided snorkelling in a marine reserve, guided sea kayaking, and more! Explore other ecosystems at risk including wetlands and mangroves. Explore various industries including coal and wineries. Tour an urban decay and renewal site. Curriculum based learning activities can be complemented with fantastic recreational activities such as ice skating, a bobsled park, heated outdoor aquatic centre and waterslides, surf lessons, flying fox and ropes courses for team building, minigolf and more! Contact us today and we will help you design the perfect excursion to suit your curriculum outcome requirements. Activities can easily be tailored to either primary or high school groups.
Located on the mid NSW coast between Newcastle and Port Stephens, Stockton Bight is home to the impressive Stockton Sand Dunes – the largest mobile dune ecosystem in South East Australia, extending along the coastline for more than 30 kilometres, inland for approximately 3.5 kilometres at its widest point and covering a total area of approximately 78 square kilometres. This area represents one of the most comprehensive and accessible records of coastal environmental change on the New South Wales coast with towering dunes reaching heights between 30 and 50 metres.
Our exciting new Stockton Sand Dune – Ecosystem at Risk tours will introduce your students to an amazing world. Extremely knowledgeable driver-guides will take you along 26 kilometres of 4WD beach and dune driving to the Sygna shipwreck, a Norwegian bulk carrier that ran aground in 1974 during heavy seas, visit Tin City, view and learn about WWII and historical sites, see Aboriginal middens and learn about past Indigenous land management practices, view and learn about current sand mining activities and management practice, take part in a pippi catch and release demonstration, and top it all off with adrenalin pumping sand boarding activities.
This activity can be tailored as a full day or half day tour and for senior geography students, can include as much or little time as you require for your own fieldwork activities (you will need to supply your own worksheets and any relevant equipment). Under your direction and supervision, your geography students can have the opportunity to construct a cross-profile across different beach and dune zones recording significant features such as sediment particle size, vegetation species characteristics and percentage groundcover, dune heights and angles of elevation & depression, prevailing wind direction, dune slipface profile and orientation to prevailing winds and so much more.
As part of your visit to Fighter World you will experience first-hand the day to day operations of an active Fighter Base including guided tours and hands-on experiences quite unlike any other Australian aviation museum. The Aircraft Display Centre enables students and their teachers to become a part of Australia’s Military Aviation past, present and future. Each exhibit offers opportunities for education relevance encompassing History, Studies of Society, and the Military Environment, Technology and Mathematics.
On a guided visit an experienced Fighterworld guide will escort the students on a tour of the airfield and discuss the day to day operations of a complex transport system including the role of Air Traffic Control, Airfield Rescue and Fire Fighting, refuelling operations, airfield safety and the impact of aviation transport on the environment. The students will also have time to visit Fighterworld for the chance to sit in a real jet fighter and enjoy a close up experience with some of Australia’s most famous aircraft.
After housing some of Australia’s most hardened and notorious criminals, Maitland Gaol closed in 1998. The cell doors have now been swung open, with visitors invited to ‘serve time’ learning about the facility, past prisoners and daring escapes. The Maitland Gaol experience offers visitors the opportunity to indulge in a world-class, self-guided audio tour. Additionally, themed guided day tours and torchlight tours by night are regularly available and are a great way to interpret this unique attraction.
TreeTop Adventure Park welcomes school groups for a motivating day of educational fun. Exciting for both students and teachers, our challenges encourage building self-confidence, helping each other, pushing your own limits, learning about the forest, fitness and healthy lifestyle as well as providing an amazing bonding experience. We offer schools the opportunity to inspire their students with a variety of exciting physical challenges as well as educational activities specifically prepared for Treetop Adventure Park addressing various Curriculum areas and KLA’s.
There are so many other activities to include in a Newcastle – Port Stephens itinerary. Contact our friendly team today to discuss your excursion requirements.
Get the latest excursion plans and offers direct to your inbox.