As Christmas gives way to the month of January, the long Queensland summer days of the school holidays are peak Youth Camp season, and all QCCC’s venues see a succession of large youth camps come and go....
With Queensland being Australia’s most de-populated State in Australia a Brisbane School Camp is a great format for regional schools to expose their students to the State’s capital. Located just a short 20 minute from the CBD, QCCC Brookfield is the closest exclusive school camp site to all the activities and delights of Brisbane city. That’s why the focus of QCCC Brookfield is on its home city – Brisbane.
As one of few camping options within the city it is highly sought after by country schools from all over the State. Schools from as far away as Cairns and the Whitsundays are regular visitors.
We recently had a school at one of our sites who had to bring some classroom work with them because there were some assessment deadlines they couldn’t shift for camp. They didn’t like doing it – the preference of many schools is to make camp a time away from the pressures of the classroom. That doesn’t mean however that schools, students and parents shouldn’t expect learning and educational outcomes from their Queensland school camp experience.
A quality school camp should be what psychologists call a “liminal” experience. A liminal space is a place of transition, waiting, and growth. Liminality happens when you get removed from your everyday environment into a place of experience, learning and relational memory.
When booking a camp it is important to understand the subtle distinctions operators make between their programs. Calling a camping program a “recreational” or “adventure” package means it’s probably a very different experience to an Outdoor Education program. There’s not anything wrong with any of these options, but it matters when you book to know that they have a different focus and outcomes.
One of the best parts of being involved in Queensland’s Outdoor Education industry is the regular feedback we receive about the product we provide, and the impact it has on people’s lives. Most guests arrive at our facilities with a sense of excited expectation but it still takes a dedicated and cohesive team to meet them....
Just after peak hour motorists on Queensland’s major highways will often see fleets of buses heading in all directions – particularly on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. These cavalcades are one of the best ways to understand the scope and breadth of the Outdoor Education industry in our State, with Queensland Conference and Camping Centres (QCCC) one of the major contributors in Queensland....
QCCC’s three main South East Queensland Conference and Camping Centres have kicked the year off in typically versatile fashion, with nearly every QCCC bed accounted for and the adaptability and flexibility of our site offerings truly on show....
Queensland Health has been recently been conducting exhaustive health and safety audits of Queensland school campsites prompted by a viral gastroenteritis outbreak at a Grade 4 camp at a competitor site, impacting 40 children. Queensland Health are keen to establish school campsites are doing their utmost to prevent a recurrence of this episode.
It has been gratifying for QCCC staff to be informed we're “best-practice” by Queensland Health officials, with QCCC’s commitment to excellence favourably compared to some of Queensland’s top resorts.
In the last week it was the turn of our Brisbane Campsite, QCCC Brookfield, to be audited. As expected, Brookfield received an excellent report. This was of little surprise to the Brookfield staff given their participation in Brisbane City Council’s Eat Safe program which rates the health and safety of catering facilities by a star-rating system.
3 sites containing a total of 800 beds - Brookfield in Brisbane (150 beds), Mapleton on the Sunshine Coast Hinterland (300 beds) and Tamborine Mountain on the Gold Coast Hinterland (350 beds)....
In a major coup for the Sunshine Coast Hinterland a local Outdoor Education Centre has received the 2013 Queensland Outdoor Recreation Award for Excellence in Outdoor Instruction and Education. Queensland Conference and Camping Centres (QCCC) are this year’s recipients of the prestigious industry award recognising excellence in Outdoor Education programs....
The Australian Curriculum is a major development in the Australian educational sector and QCCC have spent most of 2012 planning new and improved methods to assist schools to achieve the outcomes expected of the new regime. Now we're hard at work building seven new activities based on the Australian Curriculum to be ready for Term One next year. Programs and activities developed by Mapleton’s Outdoor Education team will also make their way to QCCC’s two...