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Experiential learning is a key feature of a Kristin education. It means providing a variety of challenging opportunities for students to grow and develop, alongside their academic learning.
Learning through experience
Experiential learning is a key feature of a Kristin education. It means providing a variety of challenging opportunities for students to grown and develop, alongside their academic learning. From the Junior School to the Senior School, students take part in a huge variety of experiences to build their confidence, learning, determination and independence.
Taking students outside the comfort of their traditional classroom encourages them to embrace situations and challenges that promote personal growth and development, as well as team building.
Opportunities include annual camps for all age groups, excursions and field trips to places relevant to the topic of learning, opportunities to serve the community as part of our Service Learning programmes, leadership opportunities and overseas experiences.
A whole world to learn from
International trips enrich our language, cultural and service programmes and provide immersive, real-life experiences for our students. Our Dovetail Exchange Programme offers students in the Middle and Senior Schools the opportunity to live and study in a number of countries. Recent trips have included Germany, France and Australia. In return, these students welcome an exchange partner into their homes to share their daily life, language and our unique Kiwi culture.
There is also an array of overseas learning opportunities for students to encounter new challenges and gain international experiences. Some of the trips we regularly take part in our have plans for include:
- Taking part in a global challenge with the Global Alliance for Innovative Learning (GAIL)
- Our annual sports exchange with Adelaide’s Scotch College
- A visit to Broadway in New York for music students
- A basketball-focused trip to the USA for our sports department
- Full immersion in the UK’s theatre world for our drama students.
Note: Overseas trips and exchanges are subject to change and may not be available at the time of your child’s enrolment.
Overseas Experiences
Language, cultural and service trips offer students from all three schools the opportunity to experience life in a new and challenging environment.
Dovetail international exchange programme
The Dovetail Exchanges programme on offer at Kristin provides an avenue for students to experience school and family life in another culture, often in a second language while developing independence, and confidence and to help students develop their appreciation of the challenges involved in adapting to new cultures.
What began 20 years ago as a straightforward system of partner-school liaisons, the programme has become a strategic initiative to develop partnerships with schools overseas and is one of the many paths available for our students to build cross-country competencies while establishing life-long connections.
Carey Baptist Grammar, Melbourne was Kristin's first partner school from 1999. Over the last 15 years alone, over 250 of our students have benefitted from exchange experiences.
GAIL
Kristin School is part of the Global Alliance for Innovative Learning (GAIL), a community of schools that are geographically dispersed (Australia, India, China, South Africa, Scotland, USA and Peru), but share a common vision for school education in the 21st Century. All of the members of the Global Alliance are independent, not for profit, co-educational schools committed to fostering understanding and authentic, purposeful friendship around the world.
GAIL Convention
Every year, ten students (from Year 11 and 12) are given the opportunity to connect and form lifelong friendships through an annual GAIL convention. Students from each school gather together, working on a meaningful global challenge, sharing their culture and perspectives on important issues. Past themes have included energy, ethical leadership, life balance and building community. Each year the location moves to a different school.
