On Saturday 5 February, St Hilda’s was excited and proud to officially launch our newly refurbished Yeagarup Campus, ready for the 2022 School year.
The original chalets have been upgraded to accommodate the School’s Wandering Spirit Program, a compulsory wellbeing program run throughout Year 9. The first cohort of students attended the program at Yeagarup last year where they relinquished laptops and mobile phones and spent quality time focused on goal setting, relationship-building and self-development.
Over the past twelve months three large cabins have been built to accommodate 120 students and 12 staff. In addition, a multi-purpose activity space, outdoor camp kitchen with pizza oven and outdoor dining terrace have also been created as an extension to the Foragers café that was already on the site. A solar power system, two new large potable water tanks and a state of the art sewage treatment system enhance the sustainability credentials on the site. A 950sqm campground will allow the younger students to master camping skills before progressing to more remote camping in the area as part of their senior years.
We were delighted to have the local Shire President Paul Omodei present to assist our School’s Chair of Council, Nita Peploe, open the campus. They were supported by Bungalung Indigenous man, Brook Turner-Mann on behalf of local Indigenous elder Billy Webb, who conducted a smoking ceremony and the school’s Chaplain, Father Frank Sheehan who blessed the new campus.
St Hilda’s Council member, Murray Johns followed the welcome with a campus tour with invited guests.
Pemberton and the local region offer so many incredible experiences for our students. Our outdoor education specialists are excited about teaching our students to respect the local environment while experiencing hiking, canoeing and camping. Year 5, 6 and 7 will be heading to Yeagarup this year.
Owning our own regional campus is an enormous step forward for the School and our community. We would like to thank our School Council for its vision, School Foundation for its funding and all those who have been involved in the massive refurbishments that have taken place over the last twelve months.
Yeagarup means the place of the wandering spirit. We are blessed to be able to offer our girls an experience like no other.
