We participate in a wide range of excursions and incursions to expose children to a variety of hands-on learning experiences and broaden their horizons.
Excursions and incursions at Village School
Our children enjoy exploring their world through new places and points of view, and by organising these events based on current classroom themes, we make learning even more engaging and relevant.
Novel environments
An excursion generally involves visiting a new place, or at the very least experiencing a familiar environment in a new way, which helps children to focus and engage more actively in the experience, and strengthens learning.
New experiences
Excursions and incursions expose children to things that they may not have encountered before, and wouldn’t have in the course of their daily lives at home and at school.
Discovering new plants, animals, buildings and cultures opens students up to possibilities they might not have considered before and may spark new hobbies and passions.
Social skills and teamwork
Spending time with classmates and teachers in a new context requires children to interact in new ways, to ensure that they participate fully in the experience.
Whether that means talking to a new person, staying with the group or expressing their views on something, excursions and incursions strengthen students’ social and emotional skills.
Varied learning styles
Incursions and excursions also bring with them a greater variety of experiences that allow students to learn in new and different ways, and be more excited about learning as a result.
Often these kinds of events involve even more hands-on learning than usual, and provide plenty of scope to accommodate individual interests and satisfy curiosity.
Problem solving and planning
Excursions and incursions also often involve new or uncommon activities, such as travelling on public transport, exploring unfamiliar buildings or interacting with rare animals.
These experiences help students learn about problem-solving, critical thinking and get students’ thinking on their feet to deal with new situations and challenges.
New perspectives
During these events, students also get to learn about something from a new perspective.
Whether that’s via a new person, a new location or a new subject matter, participating in excursions and incursions helps students see the world in a new way.
An appreciation of diversity
Through such outings and events, children can be introduced to new cultures, histories, people and traditions.
This helps students develop an appreciation for the many and varied elements that go into creating our diverse community and world.
Our excursions and incursions
We aim to organise excursions and incursions each term, in line with our current learning themes.
We make use of our local community and resources to create fun experiences that help students learn about the world in new ways.
Excursions are often local, particularly when using the school’s local area to enhance a curriculum purpose, such as the time the children were designing shopping areas. They visited our local Exeter Road shops in order to make a drawing of its layout. We were all amazed to discover how many shops there actually were in that little intersection.
At other times we have used the reserve up Holloway Road for a bush walk, or walked to the aged peoples home to sing to them.
We usually use the train from Croydon Station to visit the traditional excursion destinations in the city. At other times we hire a bus as some of our teachers have a bus licence which makes single class excursions very flexible.
Incursions have become more regular since we’ve had our hall, allowing for either class size or whole school events.
Here are some events that we’ve organised for students over the years:
- Fruit fly incursion
- Chinese museum
- Melbourne Museum
- IMAX
- Healesville Sanctuary
- Melbourne Zoo
- Chocolate factory in Coldstream
- CERES
- Gulf Station
- Mont De Lancey
- Indigenous dance
- Bollywood dancing
- Fire department
- Flying doctor
- Life Education Van
- Artist in residence to build the outdoor classroom
- Technology inventions
- Dancing across different cultures for Harmony Day
Our school sleepover is another way that we help children experience familiar things differently and develop confidence and self-reliance.
Excursion and incursion activities
The benefits of our excursions and incursions flow on to enhance all of our learning activities and outcomes. Here are some examples of that in action.
Halls Gap newspaper
After attending a camp at Hall’s Gap the children created the Halls Gap Times, finding ways to cover the different aspects of a newspaper at the same time as they related the events at the camp.
Little People, Big Ideas
After a small chosen group had a workshop with Jane Goodall they brought her environmental ideas back to the classroom which was running the theme “Little People, Big Ideas”
An archaeological dig
A visit to the Museum in the city gave the children information about how artefacts are displayed.
They then had an archaeological dig at school (set up by the teachers) where they actually dug up artefacts that had previously been made by the children and then had to identify what they were by researching, before setting up their museum display.
Our learning programs
For more information on our learning programs, please see:
Experiential Learning Programs Our focus is always on using practical, real-life experience to help students grasp important concepts and develop the skills that will serve them in life. Read more »
Horse Riding Lessons We offer students horse riding lessons as part of our school program, providing students with valuable life skills and an unforgettable school experience. Read more »
School Camps School camps are central to our teaching method, and help students develop confidence in their ability to look after themselves and take responsibility. Read more »