The Castle Hill Outdoor Centre, just off the Arthur’s Pass alpine roadway, has been the base of the College’s outdoor programme for the past 18 years and is ideally located for access to ski and rock climbing areas, underground caves, lakes and rivers. During 2008 the Lodge was completely rebuilt and renamed. Today the Alistair Sidey Mountain Lodge is a state-of-the-art facility for outdoor experience and education utilised each year by students from Years 7 to 10 as part of their core curriculum, and for a variety of other special activities and training programmes.

Our full time instructing staff of four deliver a variety of courses from peer support and prefect training to general activity camps. All focus on enhancing teamwork, building communication skills, setting personal goals and challenges and having fun.

Students participate in a wide range of activities such as abseiling, rock climbing, snow-caving, skiing, tramping and kayaking. These help to develop their leadership and decision-making skills, and teach them how to manage stress and risk. Above all, they learn the value of working as a team and develop the ability to solve problems creatively and collectively.

The College recognises that an all-round education must focus on more than just the acquisition of academic knowledge. We aim to send our students out into the world of work and adulthood as confident, decisive team players. Our experiential learning course at Castle Hill is invaluable in this regard.

In 2004 the Centre was one of the first in New Zealand to be recognized for its excellence and safety management, and was awarded the OutdoorMark accreditation.