King Island Ballarat Clarendon College

Why do students spend a term living and learning on King Island? Our campus at Grassy on King Island, Tasmania, offers us the unique opportunity to support the cognitive, affective, creative and ethical development of our Year 9 students.

Students learn skills on King Island that will help them on their way through life. Apart from social skills developed through community living, students learn and apply physical, practical and outdoor knowledge and skills. These are often challenging, and deliberately so. Learning contexts reach beyond the classroom to their household, the township and the environment. The solo experiences, expeditions, recreation, snorkelling, surfing and community development activities all contribute to the rich learning context offered by the program.

The Fish Will Thank Us Later!

This term on King Island we have been introduced to the Australian Marine Debris Initiative. At the beginning of the term we were told that the school’s aim was to collectively remove one tonne of rubbish from the beaches of King Island. This only spurred us on to complete the milestone. With 343kg collected over the previous three terms, we knew it would be a challenge to reach one tonne within the nine week period. After finding (and digging) a 250kg mangled mess of plastic out of the sand on a surf day, we knew that this milestone was achievable.

“Before King Island I didn’t realise how much rubbish was out on the beaches, it’s amazing how much I see now that I look for it. There’s more than you think”, one student said. Read more

Students Hiking and Cleaning!

Each month students from the Ballarat Clarendon College – King Island Campus spend some of their stay hiking around the island. During this time they are also collecting as much debris as they can, helping to protect the local coastal environment. Not only do the students remove marine debris, but they also carry all the camping gear they will need for up to 8 days!

This year the students are aiming to reach one tonne of rubbish removed from the beaches of island. When they reach this milestone, they plan to write a short media release outlining what they are doing and why it is important. In the past three terms students have collected a total of 360kg so hopefully by this time next year we should have reached a tonne! Keep posted to see their progress!

What’s Washing up on King Island?

Year 9 students from Ballarat Clarendon College spend a whole term on King Island as part of their school year, and are involved in community and outdoor activites during this time. This year students have been collecting data for the Australian Marine Debris Database when out on their hikes around the island, and the amount of marine debris they are finding on this small island located between Victoria and Tasmania has been astounding!

In one event in August we collected approximately 60kg, with a total of 111kg from the whole term – not a bad effort considering we were on an extended hike carrrying all their gear as well! A not so fantastic, but amazing for the us to witness, was a moment where we found a seal on the beach tangled in nylon rope. It really hit home for a lot of us and doubt we’ll ever walk past rubbish again!

We have picked up as much as possible and noticed a lot of debris that may have originated from foreign shores including Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Dubai, South Africa, Argentina and Brazil.