“Many of our students live in cities and wouldn’t have had an opportunity like this… this is a significant programme for students to develop self-efficacy, confidence in their own abilities, and high levels of self-awareness.”
Jamie Pennell, Head of Mangatāwhiri Outdoors Campus
Learning in the Outdoors (LITO) is an essential part of Dilworth’s curriculum offering. Designed to help develop confidence, leadership, and emotional resilience, LITO is run by Jamie Pennell, Dilworth’s Head of Mangatāwhiri Outdoors Campus.
A former Captain in the NZSAS, Jamie passed selection in 1997. Selection is designed to be a test of every aspect of character, and ensures only the very best candidates succeed before taking their place as Tier One soldiers, among the most elite in the world. A recipient of the New Zealand Gallantry Star, Jamie has developed a raft of leadership skills from his extensive experience in the NZ Army and working with the Kiwis rugby league team, the Warriors, as well as many corporate clients. Jamie’s proven track record of exceptional leadership, courage, and commitment to others makes him uniquely qualified for the role.
LITO is part of Dilworth’s curriculum of three distinct strands: an academic curriculum to maximise student learning, Ako Puāwaitanga to enhance wellbeing, and LITO to help develop emotional resilience and wider life skills. Each component is a critical part of the student experience at every year level.
Dilworth’s Mangatāwhiri Campus, the home of the school’s outdoor programme, “Te Haerenga” (the Journey), has been transformed over the last two years to provide students with an outdoor learning experience that is exceptional in every way.
The purpose-built campus has world-class refurbished facilities, including a standing campsite designed to teach bushcraft, indoor and outdoor abseiling platforms, a huge indoor climbing wall, a mountain bike track, rugby and football fields, gymnasium and weights room, and a high and low ropes course. Located between Puketutu, the Bombay Hills and the Hunua Ranges, the grounds include native trees, bush, and mature fruit trees, with the Mangatāwhiri River on the property’s boundary.
While the facilities offer students access to some of the best learning opportunities in New Zealand, the outdoor curriculum has also been completely reimagined, with new tasks and goals designed to stretch students and grow their confidence.
“We’ve created a bespoke curriculum that spans Years 7 to 13, allowing our students to have learning experiences every year on their journey,” says Dilworth’s Headmaster, Dan Reddiex. “The programme has been specifically designed so the experiences and skill acquisition are graduated, with five key skills being learned over time.”
The five key skills are tramping, rock climbing, sea and lake kayaking, mountain biking and water awareness around rivers and on the coast. As the students learn and their confidence increases, the level of challenge also rises. “The outdoors programme is also fully integrated with our wellbeing programme, Ako Puāwaitanga and provides the perfect practical context for them to apply the critical mental and self-esteem skills they learn there,” Dan says. “Our faith-based curriculum is also woven in.”
Jamie joined Dilworth in 2022, after helping develop the curriculum and running the Mangatāwhiri Outdoor Campus. Dan says Jamie was appointed because of his unique skill set and outstanding leadership capabilities. “We needed someone who could lead an expert group of adults, who are our teachers and instructors, through our programme change, as well as help design the curriculum to be challenging enough for the students, while retaining the highest level of safety. He’s an extraordinary person, and he brings incredible qualities of focus and commitment, as well as the essential coaching skills of kindness and compassion that are needed to help teenagers get the most out of their experience.”
So, how does the outdoor curriculum work? Depending on their year, the students learn at Mangatāwhiri and other places across the motu for different periods.
In Year 7, juniors attend four times a year for two days, learning the fundamental skills they will carry forward, such as basic bushcraft skills, climbing and high ropes, mountain biking and water skills. In Year 8, the stay is extended to three to four days, with similar challenges slightly increased. In Year 9, the journey steps up to 12 days, with the learning becoming more advanced and stretching the students further. In Year 10, outdoor learning is at its most involved, with individual classes of no more than 24 going out for 23 days.
Once students hit senior school and their academic workload increases, the outdoor learning is scaled back, with Year 11 doing a three-day caving experience and two day leadership experience, Year 12 focusing on comprehensive experiential leadership development, and Year 13 finishing their NCEA exams and then taking three days away. “For the Year 13’s, it’s about closing the loop,” Dan says. “It’s a pretty amazing curriculum that works all the way through the school.”
The skills students master across their outdoor learning journey are life-changing for their self-esteem, confidence, leadership, and teamwork.
Jamie says Mangatāwhiri’s campus and curriculum have been designed to test students within safe boundaries and that it’s hard to overestimate how valuable this unique outdoor experience is: “Many of our students live in cities and wouldn’t have had an opportunity like this. They might have done a school camp here and there, but this is a significant programme that has been deliberately designed in concert with our other curriculum areas to assist our students to develop self-efficacy, to have confidence in their own abilities, and self-awareness. We’re teaching them about leading self and engaging better with others.”
Jamie says the programme is accredited for the highest level of safety. “We’re operating at a level comparable to a commercial tourism business such as white water rafting or bungee jumping, which means there is a requirement for a comprehensive Safety Management System and regular internal and external auditing. Our programmes are internally audited by our own Director of Health and Safety and externally audited by an industry-recognised organisation. We’re externally audited by Qualworx against Adventure Activity regulations, which is a much higher standard.
“The surf awareness programme sits under Surf Lifesaving New Zealand’s Safety Management System. Our outdoor instructors are either qualified or working towards qualifications through the New Zealand Outdoors Instructor Association, which is the gold standard in delivering safe outdoor experiences. We also bring in specialist instructors, depending on what we’re teaching - for example, we use high-level search and rescue instructors for our caving and underground experiences. Safety is our number one priority and parents quite rightly expect that.”
Only two years in, the outdoor curriculum is already delivering outstanding results, Dan says. “The feedback from our students- especially Year 10, who do the most intensive course - has been phenomenal. We’ve had an influx of emails from parents saying, ‘You know, this has been life-changing for our son. It’s given him confidence in himself and the ability to conquer things that before he felt were impossible to manage.’ The learning takes students out of their comfort zones in a safe environment and parents are really seeing the development and growth in their young men. It breeds a genuine independence because they have to make good choices for themselves at all times - they have to tap into their own internal strength and face some really challenging circumstances.”
Dilworth’s Mangatāwhiri Outdoors Campus is already generating powerful results, but is also constantly being refreshed to ensure the best experience possible.
Jamie: “The programme has been designed to evolve. We’re constantly looking at best practices and always trying to improve. We redesign our activities to meet the students needs. The challenge is always first, but it’s also a huge amount of fun. We’re helping to create more resilient young men. Parents should see changes in the way they operate and engage when they get home, and that’s one of the key outcomes we’re looking for.”