Excursions/Incursions for primary schools in NSW

DET resources for PE

The Australian Reptile Park is a hands-on zoo that runs an exciting low-cost educational presentation for students in Early Stage 1 to Stage 3 titled Feathers, Fur and Scales. The presentation covers topics in the HSIE and Science KLA's including habitat destruction, endangered species, caring for animals, animal food chains, and simple life cycles. Students participate in hands-on experiences of seeing and touching a range of Australian native and exotic creatures including snakes, lizards, turtles, a large Burmese python, an American alligator and a selection of birds and mammals.

The Australian Reptile Park is an active and engaging venue for Primary school students of all stages. It accommodates for school excursions and provides educational activities which can be catered to the ability of the students. As Simone mentioned, with a 'Hands on' approach to learning, the venue provides great opportunity to apply the learnt theory into real life experiences. There is potential for cross curricular integration which can be set up as an entire unit of work. The Australian Repltile park has an engaging website which can be used as a resource for prior or post excrusion activities. Venue workers and trained Zoo keepers and can provide enriching tasks for the students. Themes such as: Flora, Fauna, Environmental Sustainability, Life Cycles ect.. can be addressed to compliment whatever learning is occuring back in the classroom. From what can be seen, The Australian Repltile Park is a great venue for insipring children's desire to learn.

The program that the Australian Reptile Park runs is based on the key learning area of science & technology and the content strand of living world. This venue allows students to interact with animals and create a deeper understanding of life cycles, observable features, habitats and feeding habits. The park has differentiated programs from k-6 and allows for for explicit teaching, guided learning and self-discovery of the key learning area targeted.

The Art Gallery of NSW offers a wide range of learning experiences for students across stage groups and KLA areas.The Art Gallery's educational content is so vast that it is not limited to visual arts related learning opportunities. The range of facilities offered cater to variety of learning abilities, including students with special needs and can be differentiated to suit the needs of any student/ student group. Programs are offered such as adventure tours, which focus on student exploration and discovery of visual arts through methods such as role-play and discussion activities where students direct their own learning experiences. Teachers can also choose to direct their own tours of selected artworks to be relevant of what is being taught/learnt in class or to support a specific unit of work study. The Art Gallery of NSW is a practical, hands on learning experience effective of promoting engagement to be transferable to the classroom. It is interconnected with many syllabus items which can foster learning across all stages and KLA's.

The NSW Art Gallery, located in the heart of Sydney CBD near the Royal Botanical Gardens and is one of Sydney's most culturally valuable institutions. The gallery consists of a variety of collections on constant display including Australian, Indigenous, European and Asian Art which could be be experienced by many stage groups and applied to different KLA's. There are a variety of educational 'Art Adventure Programs' available at the NSW Gallery. Programs include 'Lets Go Bush' which focuses on the Australian Landscape and iconic works by Tom Roberts and Frederick McCubbin. 'Lets Look Back' focuses on History, Wars, costumes and narratives in art. A couple of others include 'Yiribana' which is Indigenous art and 'Arts in Asia'. All these 'Art Adventure Tours' are guided programs that are free and students are arranged prior into groups of 6-7 and each group allocated one of their many expert volunteer guides. These programs run for 1hr for K-6 groups of students and they are based on a 2 way dialogue philosophy, in which open ended questions are posed to students based on what they see and interpret with the artworks. Students are shown a collection of 4 - 6 artworks during their tour. A visit to the NSW Art Gallery is the best way for students to look at original artworks and discover scale, texture and appreciate and respond to different works. They communicate socially with people in the community such as art professionals in a new environment which is engaging and stimulating and exposed to different voices and opinions that make the experience concrete and real. I would recommend the NSW Art Gallery as a valued educational excursion experience.

The NSW Art Gallery offer a range of different hour long Art Adventure Tours all lead by trained volunteers to help support student learning. What is great about these tours; in addition to all positives listed here already, is that they can be modified and linked to the classroom learning if a request is made during the book process. Amazingly these tours are free although booking is absolutely essential to ensure there are sufficient guides available for your group, as each guide can only take 6-7 students.

An excursion to the Parliament House of New South Wales offers students a curriculum based, educational tour that engages students with the Key Learning Area of HSIE (in particular, civics and citizenship). The visit provides students with the opportunity to learn about parliament procedures, become familiar with democracy in NSW, meet MPs, observe the parliament in action and engage in a role play. This is an excellent venue because it allows students to interact with politics which is relevant to their lives.

Sculpture by the Sea is a not for profit organization that aims to promote sculpture as one of the key visual art forms, it is suitable for K-12. It's a reasonably priced visual arts excursion that is out of class room which is both educative and enjoyable for students. The sculpture by the sea offers the chance for experiential learning where all students can participate with all the processes and techniques used to create different types of sculptures within a unique environment.

This excursion experience not just sparks interest in relation to the KLA of visual arts but also is accompanied and complimented by a beautiful backdrop and location. The ability to appreciate the various pieces of art in a non static and alive learning environment only increases the ability to reflect and appreciate the artists work evermore. For students selecting Art in their upper secondary schooling this particular excursion would act as a influential key to enlighten and heighten their own creative ideas and interests around themselves to explore and research for their own pieces back in the classroom. A very enjoyable thing to do and just another way to help students learn and be inspired outside the usual learning environment.

I agree with timg123's post. Sculptures by the sea do not only rely on the KLA of Visual Arts as it can also be embedded in the KLA of English (where students can write a creative piece about one sculpture). Through this visual experience of art making and art appreciation, students are able to engage with the artists' masterpiece as well as the artists' intentions. Students are able to visualize a variety of different sculptures as well as viewing an unconventional background (Bondi beach rather than an Art Gallery) creating a more enjoyable, meaningful and relaxing experience. Through the artistic views of sculptures, students can write about their 'favourite' artwork from the excursion, by answering scaffolded questions such as 'what did you like/why/what inspired you?' which can be used as an inspiration or even guide for their own future artistic measures in and out of the classroom.

Combining an excursion to the Art Gallery of NSW with a visit to the Royal Botanic Gardens is a fantastic way to satisfy a number of learning outcomes from several KLAs and provide students with a thorough and quality learning experience. The Royal Botanic Gardens offer students an opportunity to increase their understanding and appreciation of plants and the environment through concrete learning experiences. Lesson offered at the Royal Botanic Gardens are given by qualified Trust staff and have been aligned with the NSW Board of Studies syllabus. Teachers can choose a lesson at the Royal Botanic Gardens to complement the activities their students engaged in at the Art Gallery of NSW. For example, the 'Aboriginal People and Plants' lesson would fit nicely with previous exploration and interpretation of Aboriginal artworks at the Art Gallery of NSW.

Building upon Nicola's comment, I believe the Royal Botanic Gardens excursion is a took that could be linked with any KLA, these are some example lessons that could be implicitly taught as pre, post or during excursion activities. - Science could be environment lessons about specific plants and animals - HSIE lessons could be based around the ways aboriginal people connected to their land and what made it special - Maths lessons could be focused around volume, space and angles, even simple counting for earlier years - English tasks could be used where by students use descriptive and colourful language to describe their favourite features of the gardens It is important that teachers research the Royal Botanical Gardens Excursion beforehand so they can get a good understanding of the vast range of activities and options available and select one that is most appropriate. Teachers can also call the contact number and speak with an excursion supervisor to get a greater idea of which excursion focus activity will be most appropriate to their stage and students.

Sydney Opera House provides students to experience watching a live performance in one of Australia's most iconic landmarks. Here, students can learn multiple forms of drama, dance or music or can also be given access to backstage previews, which ties in with KLAs such as English and Creative Arts across all stages. Sydney Opera House provides programs for excursions and incursions; whichever you choose to engage your students in, all students will greatly enjoy it and learn a lot from this once in a lifetime experience!

The Sydney Opera House provides programs that directly reflect the New South Wales curriculum. It covers a variety of KLAs especially strands in the physical education unit such as dance, music and drama. The Sydney Opera House provides the perfect opportunity for students of all ages to engage in higher order thinking and creative thinking as live performances expand their knowledge of various elements of each strand. This excursion is not only beneficial to students, but also teachers as it structures excursion programs easily with its informative resource packages. The site itself is already an educational resource, as it is a national heritage site of Australia and would provide students more insight to Australia's greatest wonders.

The Art Gallery of NSW offers a wide variety of organised tours and activities for students and teachers from K-12. The Gallery provides a wealth of education kits and catalogues for before or later reference and tour guides are highly trained professionals. The excursion could be linked to the Creative Arts and HSIE KLAs quite easily as students have the opportunity to discover the art works, but also the historical and social context in which it was created. Overall it is a lovely excursion that exposes all students to culture.

Art Gallery of NSW has a variety of programs to introduce the Gallery's collection to students. It has free art adventure tours, introducing students to the Gallery's exhibitions. It includes tours such as looking at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, Asian galleries using storytelling, role-playing and practical activities, contemporary art, and Australian paintings. It also has practical workshop tours such as tea ceremony and calligraphy. There are programs tailored for students with disabilities. All programs have been designed to meet the K-6 syllabus.

Art Gallery of NSW provides a variety of engaging activities for students from K-12. Adventure tours are free and are available for students in K-6 in a variety of different topics to extend students' knowledge. It also provides a free Auslan Sign Language interpreter that can be booked for students with a hearing impairment. The collection exposes students to a range of artworks in varying art forms such as sculptures, paintings and photography. The collection also includes artworks from a range of cultures such as Asian, Pacific, Western, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art. An excursion to the Art Gallery of NSW exposes students to a wide variety of cultures and is an inspiring experience where students are able to gain motivation through hands-on experiences and activities.

Rumbalara EEC provides environmental and sustainability education opportunities for students and teachers within schools and at a variety of field work locations on the Central Coast. Rumbalara is a great excursion for students of all ages from K-12. Rumbalara provides students with hands on activities related directly to units of work from the NSW syllabus in HSIE and science and technology. One example is the need for shelter for stage one students. In the excursion students go on a treasure hunt to find animal shelters,they complete a nest building activity and they also pitch a tent. These activities are directly related to what they have been learning in the classroom. All of the excursions Rumbalara offers relate to both the NSW HSIE and NSW science and technology syllabus. In addition, there are excursions for all stages throughout primary and secondary schooling.

I agree with Michelle. Rumbalara incorporates curriculum outcomes with education that promotes environmental sustainability through a hands-on engaging approach that students of all ages can enjoy. I would recommend this environmental education centre for an excursion as it provides a large array of environmental related fieldwork with helpful knowledgeable staff making the process of creating an excursion incredibly enjoyable. Not only does Rumbalara offer environmental related fieldwork, they also provide students and teachers with resources and new understandings of why the environment is important and what we can do to individually and collectively minimise our environmental impact. The ultimate aim of Rumbalara is to incorporate curriculum outcomes with fun hands-on engaging fieldwork that's flexible to your individual class, with the additional bonus of incorporating what the students learn into an already existing unit of work (or helping you create a unit of work from scratch). I highly recommend this excursion for students of any age as it's an engaging day full of learning, laughter and enjoyment tailored to your exact teaching needs.

This venue could not be more suited for a HSIE or SciTech based excursion for any year group. The Rumbalara Environmental Education Centre provides curriculum aligned fieldwork programs for students from K - Year 12. The venue provides a wide range of hands on experiences where students engage with the natural environment, investigate the elements of dry and wetlands and develop an understanding of their role in sustainability. Supporting and ensuring that our school communities become more environmentally sustainable. The website is extremely elaborate and provides information that not only assist teachers with their excursion planning, but also with follow up learning tasks ideas. The educators are passionate and enthusiastic about the programs they run, each providing a clear overview of the learning tasks, how they link to the curriculum and what outcomes the students will reach. As highlighted above by Sarah, the information and programs offered by Rumbalara are great tools for creating and sustaining a quality unit of work, in either HSIE or SciTech. These excursions are of high quality, there is access for every student and school with many of the programs being able to be tailored to suit the individual needs of the class. I would highly recommend this fun, safe and engaging location.

This venue provides a wide variety of excursions for primary school students of all stages, which are directly aligned with curriculum content. The venue provides a summative brochure, outlining prices, booking times, duration, group size and curriculum links, as well as risk assessments and teaching resources. This venue also offers virtual excursions via video conferencing for schools that are unable to access the actual venue- making it an effective resource for rural NSW schools.

The Powerhouse Museum in Sydney is an interactive learning environment that enriches the learning of people of all ages, especially students, with constant and changing exhibitions, events, activities, talks and workshops, so that students are able to expand their knowledge of in-class concepts through interactive, hands-on learning. The museum offers self-guided visits, educator-led programs and video conferencing programs, along with teacher notes and other resources, so that teachers can design a learning experience which caters to the needs of all students. Links to the primary curriculum include Science and Technology, HSIE, English and the Arts, making it efficient in allowing the information learned on the excursion to be integrated into an array of units of work.

The Powerhouse Museum is a unique quality learning environment that cannot be replicated in the formal classroom. Furthermore, it provides scholarly researched exhibitions that are strongly linked to different KLAs in the school curriculum enabling students to make connections from the classroom to the real world. The museum offers various types of excursions and enables students the freedom to explore and engage their curiosity through self-guided tours. Furthermore, the diverse mediums of displays caters to the different learning styles of students making it an inclusive learning experience.

Field of Mars Environmental Education Centre provides environmental education to students K-12. Programs can be conducted as excursions, incursions and through the centre's connected classroom lessons (video conferencing). The flexible delivery of lessons caters for both metropolitan and rural students.

Donna and Natalie are absolutely right. The Field of Mars Environmental Education Centre offers an extensive variety of both excursions and incursions, all run professionally by the site's own staff. The surrounding landscape is perfect for studying Australian landscape, animals and ecosystems, yet there is also an on site technology centre wherein video conferencing between schools, and building tree-houses for animals occurs. Might I add that the staff are super friendly, so any teacher that was considering an excursion or incursion simply ring the centre, and they will help you find an environmental education experience that is right for your class.

The Field of Mars Educational Centre is an excellent resource for both incursions and excursions, they run a variety of activities which can be done on site or several activities which can be done via video conferencing, which is great for those schools in a more rural location or for special education schools where the logistics of moving about the outdoor bush environment may be tricky. The centre have their own staff whom are knowledgeable and professional while still able to communicate to children of school/high school age. Teachers can even ring the centre for ideas, if they are not yet ready to take their class their for an excursion. They make great use of the environment around them and provide a lot of hands on learning. The excursions and incursions target many KLAs such as HSIE, Maths, Creative Arts, and Science and Technology, with the idea that many of their activities combine a variety of these KLAs. I would recommend The Field of Mars Educational Centre to all teachers looking to add something hands on and educational to their program.

The excursion to Sydney Olympic Park provides multiple hands-on investigative activities for children. The tasks really assist in engaging the children and to consolidating their knowledge about the environment. A popular part of the excursion was the mangrove boardwalk where students have the opportunity to use their senses such as sight, touch and smell to explore the wet environment.

Sydney Olympic Park (SOP) offers a truly memorable experience for both students and teachers. Students are able to explore and engage with hands on activities that promote deep retention of information and concepts. The excursions at SOP are fantastic to either start, use in the middle or to finish a unit of work. It is important to ensure that all students have hats, apply sunscreen before leaving school and have plenty of water available as the excursion is mostly outdoors and lots of walking is done whilst there. The SOP website provides detailed information of the excursions available which link directly to syllabus outcomes. All in all, SOP is a great venue for excursions which students with thoroughly enjoy!

The Sydney Olympic Park offers a wide range of excursions that benefit students' learning in a range of KLAs from primary school and secondary school. The primary school excursions in particular link closely to the outcomes presented in the curriculum. What's helpful is that the guides who run the Sydney Olympic Park school programs are educators themselves. This makes them aware of what is to be taught and achieved during activities. The Olympic Park provides various learning experiences for all students, from hands on activities to virtual excursions. Students' develop observation, evaluation, exploration and investigation skills.

The National Maritime Museum of Australia at Darling Harbour is an ideal location for an excursion. School groups are well catered for with train guides and programs designed and aligned with the NSW curriculum for all stages and areas of learning. From an administration perspective, the museum assists teachers plan and organise an excursion and provides documentation for teaching and student resources. Activities may include life aboard a tall ship, submarine adventure or transport to name just a few programs for younger students. Packages can also be arranged to include a ferry ride on Sydney harbour, which is always an experience the children will enjoy. Children love to explore, touch and experience the attractions at the museum. I would highly recommend an excursion to this venue.

The Australian National Maritime Museum provides many educational learning experiences for students, teachers and parents, these include guided tours, interactive workshops and tours/visits to the historical vessels. The museum covers an extensive range of exciting learning experiences and programs for early stage 1 students all the way up until, and including stage 6. They offer over 30 educational tours and programs that relate to a variety of the key learning areas, including HSIE, Science, Mathematics, English, Creative Arts and PDHPE.

The Australian National Maritime Museum is an amazing location for an excursion. The museum caters for all stages (early stage 1 through to stage 6) and covers many KLA's across the Australian Curriculum. There is a range of activities and learning experiences that students can participate in, including guided tours of various ships and historical vessels, interactive workshops, and a variety of hands on games and activities. The Australian National Maritime Museum also offers a range of incursions and virtual excursions if travelling to the museum is not ideal.