How Our English High School Students Got Back to Nature at Classe Rouge

As part of our Physical Education Program, our Grade 11 and 12 students took the opportunity to experience the beautiful natural wonders of Quebec when they participated in Classe Rouge, our annual overnight retreat in Wentworth.

During this special trip, we focus on physical activity, leadership exercises, and team-building challenges, while encouraging our students to collaborate and spend some quality time together outside of school. Read on to learn more about all the fun activities our students participated in, as well as the valuable lessons they learned.

Secondary School Students Have Fun and Get Active

At Kells, we believe there are some things you can’t learn in a classroom, so we took our students outdoors for some important lessons from Mother Nature. There were a large variety of fun activities to get our kids moving, from archery classes to zip-lining, and even a forest obstacle course. Students also learned how to build a campfire, and participated in an Amazing Race competition.

Wentworth is an area of breathtaking natural beauty

These activities allowed our students to get valuable exercise and fresh air, but more importantly, to have fun. Secondary school isn’t just about what grades you can get and how well you perform in class, it also involves developing the skills you need later in life to build healthy personal relationships, work together, and foster a life-long passion for learning and engaging with new experiences.

Class Rouge Focuses on Leadership Skills

Our main goal in taking students outdoors in Class Rouge is to teach them how to approach challenges from a leadership perspective. We want our students to not only feel confident in pursuing their goals, but feel supported enough to become proactive in taking that first step as well. In order to do this, it can be helpful to take students out of their comfort zone a little, and challenge them to think creatively and responsively.

This is one of the main reasons we began the Class Rouge trip. By encouraging activities that not only involve physical work, but also engage our academic high school students’ puzzle and problem-solving capabilities, we help them learn how to find working solutions to overcome different and unfamiliar obstacles.

Students Also Built Upon their Teamwork Abilities

With the beautiful backdrop of Quebec’s natural lakes and forests, Class Rouge is a great bonding experience for our students, as they escape the city and enjoy some time outdoors. We scheduled a variety of team-building activities for students to participate in, which tested them both mentally and physically. Teams were awarded points based on how well they could collaborate and communicate together in order to achieve a common goal.

Team-building courses taught our students to work together

We focus on teamwork specifically because it is an important part of building a support network that our students can rely on and trust, even after their time at Kells. Class Rouge gives students the chance to form relationships outside of campus, and spend time with people they may not otherwise have talked to.

We all work better when we work together, and everyone succeeds when they feel as if they’re part of a team. As they gathered around the campfire they had built themselves, roasting marshmallows and enjoying a shared experience with old friends and new, our students gained a sense of real camaraderie and togetherness that we strive to achieve on all our overnight trips.

Are you looking for an English high school that values community and personal development?

Contact Kells Academy for more information!