Year 9 Wandering Spirit Program

What is Wandering Spirit?

Our unique Year 9 Wandering Spirit program is a compulsory high school program that takes your daughter beyond the classroom and into the natural world.

A key highlight of the program is our retreat at the Yeagarup campus in Pemberton, a truly unique opportunity for your daughter to unplug from technology and fully immerse herself in nature. This transformative experience sets us apart, offering a rare chance for personal growth. Throughout the retreat, she will engage with themes such as community values, personal identity, respectful relationships, goal setting, and self-respect—deepening her connection with peers, mentors, and the world around her.

Why?

This unique program provides an opportunity for your daughter to develop leadership skills, forge stronger relationships with her peers and significant adults, and create a vision for her future. The Wandering Spirit retreat is not just the adventure, it’s about building resilience, strengthening self-belief, and emerging with a renewed sense of purpose and clarity as she moves forward in adult life.

“Wandering Spirit is not just about navigating the wilderness; it’s about navigating the unexplored territories within yourselves,” says Daviegh-Delilah, a now Year 10 student who undertook the Wandering Spirit program in Year 9.

What sets Wandering Spirit apart is its dedication to nurturing your daughter’s independence and sense of self, helping her gain a clearer vision for her future. The retreat fosters self-reflection, providing a rare opportunity to pause, step away from daily pressures, and embrace technology-free moments in a calm and supportive setting.

In this environment, she will discover her personal strengths, set meaningful goals, and develop essential self-care practices, all while immersed in the stunning natural surroundings of our campus.

This opportunity the school is providing to our children is absolutely fantastic. Allowing them to be mindful rather than having a mind full has got to be a step forward in the approach to good mental health in this challenging world. There is a lot to be said about ‘stopping to smell the roses.

Year 9 Parent

Wandering Spirit Intentions

  • Develop stronger and deeper connections with peers and significant adults.
  • Increase independence.
  • Improve understanding of personal strengths, sense of self and vision of self, moving forward into adult life.
  • Deconstruct schedules and provide opportunities to enjoy technology free time.
  • Evolve tool kit to self-care, supported by their natural environment.
  • Develop emotional and social awareness.

How will they achieve these intentions?

  1. Pastoral Care – Students will engage in a year-long Belonging program supported by their Head of Year, Homeroom teachers and the Wandering Spirit Program Leaders. This program will provide opportunities to develop and practice skills learnt.
  2. Curriculum – Students will be exposed to topics and material across different learning areas that will support their Wandering Spirit journey. For example, in Health they learn about other countries and what challenges they may experience in accessing health care and education. In Belonging, they learn about different rituals and celebrations across the world.
  3. Wandering Spirit / Character Education Connect Program – A series of activities that provide an opportunity for students from St Hilda’s and Hale School to collaborate and develop a healthy understanding of respectful relationships.
  4. Significant Adult Participation – Significant adults are an integral part of the Wandering Spirit program. There will be an opportunity for each parent/guardian/significant adult in a Year 9 student’s life, to participate in an activity hosted at St Hilda’s after their retreat. We also encourage significant adults to attend the farewell ceremony for their child as they leave for their retreat.
  5. Yeagarup Retreat – the retreat is held at our Yeagarup campus in Pemberton. Without the distraction of technology, students are provided the opportunity to ‘digitally detox’ while exploring themes such as:
    • Community values
    • Personal identity
    • Personal strengths
    • Respectful relationships
    • The natural world
    • Goal setting and future vision
    • Honouring yourself and others

A Safe Space

Our goal is to construct and facilitate a safe space and environment for them to:

• Undergo a process of self-reflection, discovery and development about who they are and who they wish to be as young adult
• Identify challenges that could or are holding them back from reaching their potential and create strategies to deal with them
• Gain critical social and emotional competence so they can build healthy relationships
• Realise their potential to take on leadership roles
• Be inspired to dream big and live a life of their choosing

Thank you very much for providing such a wonderful experience for the girls, in the Wandering Spirit Program.

Our daughter had heard from previous groups that the Wandering Spirit camp was great, but it truly exceeded her expectations. She said she missed it as soon as she got back!
The opportunity for the girls to bond without the distraction of phones or other normal school worries is critical, as well as a program which builds confidence and relationships. This is the perfect age and stage to do this, and particularly for my daughter it couldn’t have come at a better time.