Arbury Park Outdoor Scool
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STATEMENT

SACSA Curriculum Mapping Overview

Early Years Band

Characteristics of Learners (in particular as they relate to outdoor learning)
Children enter early childhood settings as active, experienced learners. Children in the Early Years:
  • are social learners who construct and review their understandings through relationships, language based interactions, play, scaffolding and modeling
  • are motivated to learn through curiosity, imagination and creativity
  • learn in authentic, real-world situations
  • learn through physical activity and develop a complex variety of capabilities
  • use and enjoy repetition for practising and consolidating skills

From the SACSA framework
At Arbury Park Outdoor School, learners... Key ideas from the SACSA framework
  • Explore natural places such as forests, ponds, creeks and wetlands that provide rich sensory experiences. Hiking, Sensory walk
  • Catch and examine freshwater and terrestrial invertebrates with small microscopes and video cameras. Freshwater life, Nature's recyclers
  • Compare features of plants and participate in a productive plant nursery procedure. Plant propagation
  • Explore animal diversity and handle tactile animal displays in indoor and outdoor settings. Ecocentre, Bird ecology
Children identify sequences and cycles of natural events which are connected to their daily lives. (Earth and Space)

Children investigate the features and behaviours of plants and animals through direct and virtual experience. (Life systems)

Children explore the life cycles of living things. (Life systems)
  • Use simple maps to find plastic "creatures" located in the school grounds (orienteering) Creatureteering
  • Compare the physical environment of Arbury Park with a fiberglass 3D scale model. Predict what happens to water when it flows over sloping ground. Freshwater life
  • Participate in the sustainable practices of Arbury Park by conserving energy, recycling packaging, and composting food scraps.
  • Discover and compare the variety of leaf litter creatures that recycle "nature's compost". Nature's recyclers
  • Participate in Arbury Park's local creek rehabilitation project by propagating and planting local plant species. Landcare
  • Examine beliefs and re-enact strategies that have enabled Aboriginal people to live sustainable lifestyles in Australia for many thousands of years. Aboriginal studies
Children develop skills to represent real and virtual place and space as they discuss interactions between people and their environments. (Place, space and environment)



Children develop an understanding of the concepts of sustainability, conservation and care of resources and places, and take action consistent with these. (Place, space and environment)


Children identify and explore patterns in the traditional stories, practices and present day lives of indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. (Societies and Cultures)
  • Participate in a range of physical activity including high energy simulation games, hikes, and exploratory walks along forest trails and hillsides. Web of life, Hiking


  • Share in a residential experience, including sharing meal times, evening activities, sleeping arrangements and a wide range of formal and informal learning experiences. Residential experience

  • Identify ways to feel safe in an outdoor setting away from their normal daily routines and practices. Residential experience



  • Develop confidence and independence by being responsible for their own personal organisation in a new setting. Residential experience
 Children investigate a range of movement options and participate regularly in energetic physical activity to enhance their physical vitality and assist the process of healthy growth, development and learning. (Physical activity and participation)

Children recognise differences and similarities between themselves and others as they share with, and contribute to, the different groups in their expanding world. (Personal and social development)

Children develop an understanding of what is required to live together, communicate with others both personally and virtually and share feelings and ideas as they experience relationships and make friends. (Personal and social development)

Children identify safe and unsafe situations in homes, school, work and community environments. They explore rules and behaviours and develop skills to help themselves and others to remain safe and healthy. (Health of individuals and communities)

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Primary Years Band

Characteristics of Learners (in particular as they relate to outdoor learning)
Primary Years learners come from a range of linguistic, cultural and social backgrounds. They bring to learning their own prior knowledge and experiences, needs, interests, concerns, expectations and aspirations. In addition, Primary Years learners:
  • have high levels of energy and enjoy physical activity resulting in natural movement and noise
  • are experiencing different kinds of friendships and exploring power dynamics
  • are exploring the similarities and differences between being male and female
  • are experimenting with identity and referencing themselves against peers
  • are keen to extend their capabilities and self-expression.
  • are able to engage enthusiastically and expand their thinking in ways that are reflective and spontaneous

From the SACSA framework
At Arbury Park Outdoor School, learners... Key ideas from the SACSA framework
  • Hypothesise and collect data about local weather. Weather trail


  • Use sundials to make daily observations of the sun's position
  • Examine examples of indigenous people's knowledge and use of particular plants and animals in the past and present for food, clothing, shelter, medicine, tools. Aboriginal studies
  • Observe changes during the life cycles of familiar living things (eg flowering -plants, fungi, amphibians, insects) Freshwater life, Plant propagation, Ecocentre
  • Participate in hands on projects to improve and restore diversity along local creeks and in local bush. Landcare, Catchment walk
  • Use an assembly procedure to construct artificial nesting hollows and investigate occupancy using infra-red camera technology. Nesting boxes
 Students analyse how the earth sustains life and understand and report that the earth is continually changing. (Earth and Space)

Students use information and communication technologies and a variety of other resources to develop their own explanations about the relationship between the earth, sun and moon. (Earth and Space)


Students pose questions and seek explanations about the internal and external features of living things in order to better understand the supports of life in particular environments. (Life Systems)



Students construct and explain their ideas about the diversity of living things and how they reproduce and grow. They identify and communicate the importance of maintaining diversity of living things in order to sustain life on earth. (Life systems)
  • Experience a short journey through a small water catchment; identifying issues that impact upon it (eg erosion, salinity, exotic plant species, urban run off). They relate this experience to their own local water catchment. Catchment walk
  • Participate in multi level orienteering courses with increasingly abstract map representations of local features Orienteering
  • Compare and interpret different scale maps, aerial photos and 3D models depicting catchment regions and sources of water for human settlements. Catchment walk
  • Examine beliefs and re-enact strategies that enabled Aboriginal people to live sustainable lifestyles in Australia for many thousands of years. Aboriginal studies
Students examine natural and social environments in local and global communities, analysing patterns, systems and relationships. (Place, Space and Environment)


Students use a range of resources and technologies to gather and present information. They develop mapping and graphing skills to represent observable features in the environment. (Place, Space and Environment)


Students discuss and examine the cultural heritages of people in Australian society and the way culture is passed on, maintained and developed by families, groups and communities. They explain how cultural ideas and practices affect us all. (Societies and Cultures)
  • Share a residential 24 hours-a-day experience. This includes sharing meal times, evening activities, sleeping arrangements and a whole range of formal and informal learning experiences. Residential experience
  • Work cooperatively with others in a range of program activities where individuals take on different roles. Cooperation games
 Students enhance their understandings of relationships and group dynamics through developing knowledge and skills in collaborating with others and working in teams. (Personal and social development)

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Middle Years Band

Characteristics of Learners (in particular as they relate to outdoor learning)
All Middle Years learners are individuals who come from a range of linguistic, cultural and social backgrounds. They bring to learning their own prior knowledge and experiences, needs, interests, concerns, expectations and aspirations. In addition, Middle Years learners are:
  • experiencing adolescence and the accompanying emotional, physical and sexual changes
  • learning to form, articulate and manage relationships
  • keen to develop greater interdependence with their peers and independence in their lives
  • questioning schooling, reflecting on who they are, where they belong, what they value and where they're going
  • developing their own voice, often challenging the voices of their parents/caregivers, teachers and society
  • aiming for a stronger sense of belonging through participation in wider adolescent cultures becoming aware that they can make changes for themselves and others

From the SACSA framework
At Arbury Park Outdoor School, learners... Key ideas from the SACSA framework
  • Explore and manipulate devices such as the solar powered water pump as an example of energy transfer.


  • Compare different types of human waste and decide if it is rubbish or resource. Nature's recyclers




  • Participate in plant propagation using a variety of techniques and observe the life cycle of a plant. Plant propagation





  • Investigate the flow of energy through living organisms by exploring interrelationships between living things. Freshwater life, Ecocentre
  • Observe animals in a range of habitats using technologies such as binoculars and small video cameras. Compare different behaviours and adaptations for survival. Bird Ecology, Ecocentre
  • Role play predator/prey relationships, experiencing the challenges of surviving in natural and non natural environments. Web of Life
  • Discover the variety of terrestrial invertebrates and their importance in the cycling of nutrients Nature's Recyclers
Students use the concepts of force, energy and transfer of energy to investigate and explain phenomena and changing patterns of events in the natural world. (Energy Systems)

Students communicate understandings about the properties and personal uses of materials. They research future availability of earth materials for human use, and explore possible sustainable alternatives to current patterns of use. (Matter)

Students examine the ways organisms reproduce, grow and change over generations. They engage with, and appreciate different positions on, ethical issues such as those associated with ecological sustainability and gene technologies. (Life Systems)

Students develop a shared understanding of the characteristics and behaviour of living things and how they are interrelated and interdependent. They appreciate and report on the place of humans in the earth's ecology, and develop their understanding of, explore future possibilities for, and act to contribute to, sustainable environments. (Life Systems)
  • Engage in debate about hypothetical development proposals, structuring an argument within a group. Hypotheticals





  • Examine beliefs and re-enact strategies that enabled Aboriginal people to live sustainable lifestyles in Australia for many thousands of years. Aboriginal studies
  • Use an assembly procedure to construct artificial nesting hollows and investigate occupancy using camera technology. Nesting boxes
 Students work cooperatively with others or in teams to discuss points of view and arguments about particular events or issues in order to consider the values associated with them and to explore ways in which future change or continuity can be influenced (Time, Continuity & Change)

Students discuss environmental, conservation or resource issues, and individually and/or in teams collaboratively develop strategies to bring about positive change in the local community. (Place Space & Environment)
  • Participate in a range of physical activity including hikes, orienteering and exploratory walks. Hiking, Orienteering




  • Participate in challenging problem solving activities to achieve group-oriented success. Problem Solving, Mission Survival
  • Develop trust and confidence in peers in making informed group decisions in simulated survival situations. Bush Survival
Students enhance their sense of self and group identity through the development and application of specialised movement skills in an increasing variety of preferred physical activities, individually and in teams (Physical Activity & Participation)

Students extend their social knowledge and skills to enable them to make and maintain positive relationships and close friendships, and work collaboratively in teams (Personal &Social Development)

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Arbury Park Road
Bridgewater 5155
South Australia
P 08 8339 3237
F 08 8339 3313
arbury@arburypark.sa.edu.au

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Copyright APOS 2008