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Education programs
Education programs
We understand that each school, student group and educational facility has different needs and wants. For this reason, GORCC offers programs that are flexible and can cater to student’s abilities and environmental understanding needs. We consider:
- Session type: From a once-off activity to multiple weeks, a whole term, or even a year-long program, our Education team can work with you to design the best program for your students’ needs.
- Session time and length: We understand different groups will have different time restraints and needs. With flexibility in session delivery times and session length, our staff will discuss what time suits best and if you’d go for a one-hour session or longer.
- Topics and outcomes: Sessions are highly tailorable to the age and curriculum of your group.
- Session location: Our management area stretching from Pt Impossible to Lorne is rich with various habitats and environments, each providing unique educational opportunities for students. Our team will work with you to choose the most suitable location taking into account specific requirements such as distance to travel or subject focus.
New in 2020
Pre-Post Activity Resource Packs. In 2020, all programs will receive a free pre/post activity resource to help prepare their students pre-session, and/or extend their learning after their time with us. These will be emailed out individually to all booked groups in the new year.
Our sessions and how to book
Our Environmental Educational sessions focus on the main concepts of:
- Biodiversity exploration
- Cultural exploration
- Coastal environmental exploration
- Human impacts and coastal management
Unsure what would best suit your students needs? Want to book in for multiple sessions? Complete the Online Enquiry Form or contact us direct at education@gorcc.com.au to discuss a program to suit your needs.
Delivery options and costs
To view our education program fact sheet, including costs, click here.
We pride ourselves on offering tailorable programs to suit the age and curriculum needs of your group.
Please see below links to a sample of our programs on offer.
Kindergarten
Our beach/ bush kinder sessions focus on three main themes:
- Birds
- Bugs and biodiversity
- Wadawurrung Country
Each session aims to foster a sense of curiosity and love for the outdoors and nature and a connection to the history of the land they are exploring.
Children are encouraged to use their senses to explore the world around them through touch, smell, sight and hearing. A range of artefacts and equipment are also made available to increase students engagement through unique hands-on learning opportunities.
The knowledge shared was great and the presenter was fantastic with the children. He answered all of their questions and was very considerate to the quiet children in the group making sure they also felt included during the activity.
Primary education
Our ‘coastal classrooms’ provide a range of engaging, fun, authentic learning opportunities for students of all ages. Lead by passionate qualified educators, our sessions provide hands-on learning experiences, as well as a chance for students to truly build a connection and respect for our coastal environments and how they can help care for the biodiversity within them.
We pride ourselves on offering tailorable programs to suit the age, abilities and curriculum needs of your group. See below some of the key themes we can cover and curriculum links we can tailor our programs to for your students learning needs.
Thomas Chirnside Primary School is very grateful for the experience that Pete provided. All our students walked away with new knowledge and exciting adventures to share with their friends and families. Thank you so much.
Some of the key themes we deliver to primary school students include (but not restricted to):
- Adaptations and classification
- Biodiversity
- Food webs
- Life cycles
- Sustainability
- Beach litter/ marine debris
- Conservation and human impacts
- Extreme environments
- Dune ecology
- Wadawurrung Country
We have a range of activities and resources to support students learning including:
- Beachcombing
- Rockpool rambles
- “Things up-close” biodiversity trailer: includes big-screen digital microscope, insect and nature sampling survey equipment, with photos and data entered into iNaturalist for a real citizen scientist experience.
- Unique beach treasure artefact collections
- Stargazing
- Interpretive walks
- Coastal clean-ups.
Secondary education (including VET)
Our ‘coastal classrooms’ provide a range of engaging, authentic learning opportunities for students of all ages to gain a deeper connection with and understanding of our natural environments. Our passionate educators inspire and support students to connect with our coastline, explore their curiosity and think critically about our natural world, the values they hold, and the vital role they play in helping conserve our unique coastline environments. Sessions can be either purely theory-based or integrate hands-on conservation activities to provide students with further hands-on learning and connection to place.
We pride ourselves on offering tailorable programs to suit the age, abilities and curriculum needs of your group. See below some of the key themes we can cover, and curriculum links we can tailor our programs to for your students’ learning needs.
The boys had an excellent day today, made more enjoyable by the efforts from you guys at GORCC. You were a fantastic source of information for the boys, and they really appreciated the way you presented to them. It’s not very often you get a group of 15 year olds working physically without complaining, so you obviously hit the right note!
Some of the key themes we deliver to secondary school students include (but not restricted to):
- Coastal land management
- Sustainability
- Beach litter/ marine debris
- Biodiversity monitoring
- Conservation and human impacts
- Coastal stewardship
- Coastal processes
- Food webs and life cycles
- Ecology
- Wadawurrung Country
- Geography
- Astronomy
We have a range of activities and resources to support students learning including:
- Bush/beach interpretive walks/hikes
- Coastal clean-up: litter data added to Tangaroa Blue database
- Biodiversity trailer: includes big-screen digital microscope, insect and nature sampling survey equipment, with photos and data entered into iNaturalist for a real citizen scientist experience
- Hands-on conservation: weeding, site maintenance and planting
- Beachcombing
- Rockpool rambles
- Telescope for astronomy night classes
New in 2020: Pre-Post Activity Resource Packs. In 2020, all programs will receive a free pre/post activity resource to help prepare their students pre-session, and/or extend their learning after their time with us. These will be emailed out individually to all booked groups in the new year.
Learn about our specialised Coast Guardians program tailored for year 9 students.
Tertiary
Our ‘coastal classrooms’ provide a diversity of engaging, authentic learning opportunities for all age groups—from kindergarten through to tertiary and adult groups.
Tailored programs & activities can be created upon request to align with your relevant course work or group/teams learning outcome requirements.
Key program themes we deliver include (but not restricted to):
- Coastal land management
- Sustainability
- Beach litter/ marine debris
- Biodiversity monitoring
- Conservation and human impacts
- Coastal stewardship
- Food webs and life cycles
- Dune ecology
- Wadawurrung Country
We have a range of activities and resources on offer:
- Interpretive walks/hikes
- Coastal clean-up: litter data added to Tangaroa Blue database
- Stargazing
- Hands-on conservation: weeding, site maintenance and planting
- Beachcombing and rockpool rambles
- Invertebrate surveying
- Welcome to the coast
School camp education
The Great Ocean Road Coast Committee manages three caravan parks along the Great Ocean Road which provide amazing locations for your next school camp stay. To find out more and to complete an expression of interest form, follow the caravan park links below.
As part of your stay with us, your group is entitled to one free Education program!
See below examples of popular programs and activities available to school groups:
- Welcome to / goodbye from the coast indoor presentation
- Coastal walks
- Beach clean-up
- Campground biodiversity exploration
- Any of our general Environmental Education sessions
For more information about our award-winning Environmental Education programs, the unique coastal environment surrounding each site, and steps to make sure your visit is a low-impact one, please see the links below.
