1. Outdoor School
Parent Overview
Date:
Trustee Seminar
June 10, 2014

2. From NVOS to Cheakamus Centre…the 48 year-long journey continues
New Name and Visual Identity (2013)
Still owned and directed by SD 44
Outdoor School is flagship program
New K-12 Programs being developed/offered
Partnership with Listel
Cheakamus Centre is the new name for the property. It reflects place & history: rooted in the Squamish word “Chiyakmesh” meaning people of the fish weir
Outdoor School or ODS refers to the core Primary and Intermediate programs offered to SD44 and out of district school
"nature is in session" reflects an outdoor and experiential learning environment suitable for learners and visitors of all ages and complements NVSD’s “natural place to learn”
SD44 continues to see Educational Programming as the core function/offering of the site
New year-round K-12 programs in Environmental and Cultural Ed being developed/offered
Listel has been contracted to oversee operational needs of facility including food service, maintenance, housekeeping and program support. This allows for greater use and functionality of site (ie. conferences, special events, weddings etc)

3. What is the Outdoor School Program (ODS)?
SD44 Overnight educational program
Gr. 6’s: 4 day/3 night
Gr. 4’s: 3 day/2 night
Offered on 165 ha environmental learning centre in Paradise Valley since 1969!
Cheakamus Centre includes:
Salmon hatchery + 12kms of stream habitat
Animal farm and food gardens
Coast Salish longhouse
9km’s of forest and upland trails
canoe and duck ponds
Team building challenge area & more!
What is the Outdoor School Program?
Outdoor School is an overnight environmental study program that elementary school classes are invited to attend for 3,4 or 5 days at a time from Sept to June. Students take part in academic field studies and daily recreation activities throughout the facility. The facility itself includes a fish hatchery, farm, forest trails, ponds, streams, salmon spawning habitat, cooperative challenge games, first aid station/clinic, a commercial kitchen and much more. The Outdoor School welcomes students of all abilities as it is special needs accessible.

4. Where is Cheakamus Centre?
Brackendale, approx. 1 hour north of Horseshoe Bay
On the banks of the Cheakamus River in Paradise Valley
Environmentally diverse area with old and second growth forests
15 minute drive from the town of Squamish
Where is Outdoor School?
Cheakamus Centre resides on the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people and is located approximately 60 minutes north of Horseshoe Bay in Brackendale, British Columbia. It is 14 km north of Squamish on the banks of the Cheakamus River and is only 6km off of Hwy 99. The Outdoor School is in an environmentally sensitive area with diverse forests including Cedar trees from 700 to1000 years old.

5. ODS Program Benefits
It is a place where students come to do, see, connect, and experience things
Students develop an understanding of human impacts on the environment
Opportunity for students to build confidence, independence, resilience and a greater sense of community
ODS Program Benefits
The ODS program offers the opportunity for students to do things rather than just read about them. This experiential approach allows students to understand important topics that might seem difficult or even boring in a regular school. Furthermore, respect for our natural environment is integrated into every lesson or activity on the program. The residential living experience encourages cooperative behaviours and provides opportunities for inter-personal development.

6. Outdoor School Program Team
Program Team Link
Link to staff Bios on Cheakamus Centre website:

7. Who are Counselors on the ODS Program?
Counselors provide a very important role at ODS
Provide supervision, instruction, and leadership
Mentor and support younger students
Volunteer high school, college, or university students
1st complete a 30 hr counselor training program
A Typical ODS Program Day Upon arriving by bus, students are introduced to their counsellors and the Outdoor School staff. The counsellors are high school, college, or university students. They have received 30 hours of training in an intensive weekend program supervised and evaluated by Outdoor School staff to prepare for the responsibilities of this important position. Furthermore, these unpaid volunteers must have written permission from their own teachers, parents, and their school administrators before attending. Adult staff members find counsellors to be invaluable as they provide supervision, instruction, and leadership to the students.

8. Cabins.. Heated and sleep 12-16 students
Equipped with bunkbeds and separate rooms
Have toilets + showers
Rustic!
A Typical Day cont. (After introductions, students are divided into Cabin Groups.)
After introductions, students are divided into cabin groups pre determined by their teachers. In these groups of 10 to 15, students will sleep and perform chores together. Each cabin group has one or two counsellors. Within each warm cabin are two bathrooms, each with a shower or a bath, 10 to 15 bunk beds, cubby holes and an area to hang jackets or wet clothes.

9. Student Chores & Responsibilities
setting up the dining hall for meals
bringing food from the kitchen to the table and serving
cleaning up after meals
feeding and caring for farm animals
Composting waste
Keeping cabins tidy
A Typical Day cont. (In their Cabin Groups, students perform chores before, after, or during each meal.)
Performing chores teaches students about personal responsibility for their way of life. These chores may include:
setting up the Dining Hall/ELC for meals
cleaning up the Dining Hall after meals
observing daily weather patterns
feeding and caring for farm animals
serving meals
helping to bring food from the kitchen to the tables

10. Environmental Learning Centre
State of the Art Design
Professional Kitchen Staff
Dining areas, classrooms, and meeting room
Undercover gathering/learning spaces
A Typical Day at cont. (Meals)
Students eat their meals in the Blue Shore Financial Environmental Learning Centre (ELC) A qualifying LEEDs platinum building.

11. From the kitchen… kid-friendly nutritious meals and snacks
Chef provides for special diets
Nut-restricted facility (no items containing nuts)
meals are run by Program Support Specialists and supported by teachers and ODS staff
A Typiccal Day cont. (Meals)
Students are served three, kid-friendly meals and two snacks per day. The chefs also caters to special diets of all kinds. If a student has a special diet, Cheakamus Centre kitchen staff will likely contact parents or they can contact the centre. The Chef may request students bring additional food with them if it will help them to manage a special diet. To ensure special diets and medications are given due attention, a Program Support Specialist runs each meal.

12. Sample Menu
*Note: there is a 5 day rotating menu so not all meals shown will be served
A Typical Day cont. (Meals)
The sample menu provides examples of the types of meals served. It doesn’t reflect the exact menu students will be served during their program. There are always a number of choices at each meal and extra fruit is always available. Students also get snacks in the afternoon and evening (eg’s include pretzels, popcorn, fruit, cookies, etc).

13. Field Studies
field studies are conducted outside, utilizing the 165 hectare ecological reserve
teachers from the visiting school and ODS teachers lead the studies with the assistance of counsellors
The focus of the studies are determined by the ODS teachers and visiting staff, and the seasons
A Typical day cont. (After breakfast and lunch, students attend field studies.)
Field studies are classes conducted outside, around the property. Teachers from the students’ school and Cheakamus Centre lead the field studies with the assistance of counsellors. Depending on the season, the subjects of the different field studies will vary. The activities within each field study differ depending upon the age of the students.

14. Salmon/Aquatics Field Study
A Typical Day cont. (Salmon/Aquatics Field Study)
All field studies use an integrated approach and designed to support curriculum connections and core competencies. For example, depending on the season, in the salmon field study students may hike to a stream area (provides recreation), observe spawning or juvenile fish (uses Science skills), catch salmon, measure and weigh salmon fry, or determine the volume of eggs (develops Mathematic skills), fertilize salmon eggs (teaches Science or Genetics), and discuss how salmon influence our economy (uses Social Studies knowledge).

15. Pond Field Study A Typical Day cont. (Pond Field Study)
A similar integrated approach is used in the Pond field study. Students walk to one of our ponds, examine the pond habitat, scoop up flora and fauna specimens. Later, they examine and identify the specimens under a microscope before releasing them back into the pond. Older students may look for indicator species and do habitat comparison studies.

16. Forest Field Study A Typical Day cont. (Forest Field Study)
In forest field study, students may examine a 700 to 1000 year old cedar tree, compare first growth forests with second growth forests, determine connections between living things in the forest, and use their senses to examine the diversity of life within the different forest types.

17. Farm Field Study A Typical Day cont. (Farm Field Study)
Farm field study may include feeding the chickens, holding a baby chick, checking out the pigs, or feeding and petting a goat. While participating in these fun activities, students are also taught about the importance of animal husbandry, their connection to the farms that produce our food, reproductive cycles, and the environmental impact of different types of farming.

18. Wildlife/Habitat Field Study
A Typical Day cont. (Wildlife/Habitat Field Study)
The forests and bodies of water around Cheakamus Centre provides excellent habitat for many different species of wildlife. In this field study students may go looking for animal tracks, examine examples of different habitats, learn to identify and compare birds or even view eagles feasting on spawning salmon.

19. Recreational & Special Programming
Each day students participate in special interest activities under the supervision of the Program Coordinator and led by the counsellors
A Typical Day cont. (Each day, students participate in special interest activities for 1.75 hours.)
Each day students participate in special interest activities for 1.75 hours. These activities are led by the counsellors, with the Program Coordinator and other program staff in charge of organizing the activities and ensuring that proper safety measures are followed. These activities are age and season dependent and may include canoeing, archery, caving, cooperative challenges, tracking, nature games, exploring insects or others.

20. Canoeing A Typical Day cont. (Canoeing)
Canoeing in our pond provides students with an opportunity that few would get to experience at home. Two students are assigned to each canoe and are instructed in safety and basic strokes by counsellors. This activity is dependent on weather.

21. Archery A Typical Day cont. (Archery)
Archery is a perennial favourite with intermediate students. In pairs they get to practice their aim at the archery range.

22. Caving A Typical Day cont. (Caving)
Caving is without a doubt one of the more memorable activities intermediate students experience. Crawling through small tunnels created by huge boulders displaced by glaciers always brings a group together.

23. Cooperative Challenges
A Typical Day cont. (Cooperative Challenges)
Cooperative challenges is one activity that students talk about year after year. The activities involve working as a team to complete various challenges. These challenges include balancing with a partner on planks that move progressively further apart, working together to move multi person skis, crossing a cable bridge, ascending a wall without a ladder, balancing with all of your team-mates on a small platform, or using only rope swings to cross a long distance.

24. In the evening… Teacher time & check-in Counsellor-led activities
sensory walk
Dance night
Environmental Skits
Campfire songs/games
A Typical Day cont. (After dinner each day, Gr 6 students spend one hour, Gr 4 students spend 45 minutes, with their own teachers reviewing the day.)
After dinner, students spend time with their own teachers reviewing the day. This time provides an opportunity for students to discuss their day and bring up any questions or concerns with adults they are familiar with. Finally, the evening concludes with a night walk, skits, dancing lessons, or songs around a campfire.

25. Sensory Walk A Typical Day cont. (Night Walk)
In their cabin groups, students are led by their counsellors on a night time walk through the nearby forest trails. During this time, counsellors conduct various activities allowing students to explore the darkened forest with senses other than sight. For example, one activity includes sitting absolutely quiet -with one’s back to the group- listening to the different sounds of the darkened forest. Another activity looks at how colours change at night.

26. Dancing A Typical Day cont. (Dancing Lessons)
Dancing lessons give intermediate students a chance to relax after a full day of activities. Dances like the Macarena, the YMCA, the Hoky Poky, the Mexican Hat Dance, and the Chicken Dance are all taught by counsellors.

27. Environmental Performances
A Typical day cont. (Skits)
During the course of the week intermediate level cabin groups use free time to practice a skit based on an environmental dilemma. Skit night gives students a chance to present their finished product.

28. Campfire Songs A Typical Day cont. (Campfire Songs)
No overnight experience is complete without singing songs around a fire. There is a beautiful enclosure which combines covered, tiered seating with a traditional campfire on the shore of a small pond. The songs, led by counsellors, all have an ecological theme to them. Whether they are about the perils of an oil tanker sinking or the importance of worms, students always have fun singing along.

29. Lights Out
on the first night, and both nights for primary grade visits, counsellors remain in the cabins
subsequent nights (intermediate grade visits of more than two nights) counsellors have a one hour break from 10:00 to 11:00 pm
during the break counsellors are scheduled, in pairs, to supervise the cabin area under the direction of a resident staff member
A Typical Day cont.
Lights are turned out at 9:45pm (Intermediate students), 8:45pm (Primary Students)
Before students are sent to bed, they will be given adequate time to attend to personal hygiene. Of course, using their time efficiently is each student’s responsibility. On the first night, counsellors remain in the cabin for the entire night to ensure everyone settles in comfortably. On the following nights, during Intermediate grade visits of more than 3 days, counsellors are given a one hour break from their cabins between 10:00 pm and 11:00 pm. During this time two Counsellors patrol the cabin area under the direction of a staff member to deal with any situations which may arise. During Primary group visits counsellors remain in the cabins for the entire night both nights.

30. ODS Program experience provides students with:
Opportunities to ‘see’, appreciate and respect their environment
Opportunities to understand how natural systems are connected
Opportunities to foster confidence, independence and community
Lasting memories
What will students take away from their time on the ODS Program?
Being away from home is always a memorable experience however; ODS tries to impart the following lessons:
an appreciation and respect for the environment
further developed social skills
greater independence
greater responsibility for their actions

31. Questions?