Further information is available for Parents and Students in the College Portal.

Structure and Rationale

The Year 9 Challenge is a four-week programme that has been designed to expose your sons to a diverse range of activities and experiences. The prime reason for our initiative is the desire to care for and develop each Riverview student by providing opportunities for them to excel, grow, extend themselves and enjoy significant physical and intellectual achievements, and so to maximise their potential.

The Year 9 Challenge has four main goals:

1. To promote a love of learning and recognition that knowledge & skills have a connection & a unity;
2. To promote self-confidence and the ability to communicate ideas;
3. The development of teamwork skills especially in learning situations;
4.  To encourage the competent use of technology.

The Bush Experience

Southbound Adventures is the Outdoor Education provided used to facilitate the Year 9 Bush Experience. This Outdoor Education experience is a 5-day wilderness program for the students followed by an overnight student/mentor programme.
The programme is a wilderness expedition that will utilize two modes of transport including canoes and mountain bikes. The students will be staying in the tents provided each night and cooking on small camp stoves. All food and snacks are provided for the week however some specific dietary requirements may be required to come from home.

The expedition will be based around the Hawkesbury River area and surrounding National Parks and State Forests. All groups will travel independently of each other and will be accompanied by a Southbound instructor and a Saint Ignatius’ College teacher throughout the journey. A Southbound activity instructor will also join each group for canoeing and mountain biking.

A luxury coach organised by Southbound will transport the students to the campsite and will depart from the College on the Monday morning 7.00am. Mentors will join the students on the Friday afternoon. A mentor is defined as: father or mother, older brother or sister, uncle or aunt or close family friend. Boys who have limited cycling skills are encouraged to develop and improve these in the months prior to the Bush Experience.

The aims of the Mentor programme are for the boys to conduct the programme for the mentors and for the mentors to experience a small taste of what the boys have been doing over the week. The students will demonstrate the skills they have learnt during the week by cooking a meal for their mentors, setting up and sharing a tent, guiding them through a ½ day of activities including a short bushwalk, some initiative exercises and a canoe session.

Mentor's role

Mentors are advised that the programme has been designed to cater for varying levels of fitness and ability. It is compulsory for the students to have a mentor accompany him on the Bush Experience for one night. This part of the Challenge is a significant and rewarding experience and it is essential that the mentor commit to the programme in full. The mentor is expected to arrive at Crosslands Reserve at 3:45pm on the last night of the program, where a Southbound Adventures representative will meet them. The boy’s Group Leader will then conduct a “hand over” session with the mentors. It is important that mentors arrive promptly for this session. Mentors are required to transport the student for whom they have been responsible back to Sydney. 

City Experience

Boys will have an opportunity to be engaged in a range of cross-curricular activities largely based in and around Sydney during the "Curriculum Weeks" of the programme.

Faculties has taken responsibility for organising 1 or 2 day programmes that focus on their subject areas and cover areas of the Stage 5 Curriculum. As well as allowing boys to experience their city in this practical way, they will also learn to navigate the city and surrounds. All boys will be asked to make and pay for their own way to city-based venues in order to expand their knowledge of public transport routes to and from home or the College. Tips about transport routes, costing and maps for trips will be provided in the booklets boys are given before the commencement of the Challenge.  

Hospitality Experience

This year the College is working with the Northern Sydney Institute of TAFE, Ryde Campus to provide the students with a two-day hospitality experience. Over the two days students will be learning the skills required in order to cook a three-course meal, make coffee/chocolates and serve a meal to customers. The students will put these skills into action on the evening of the last day of their hospitality program by serving their parents a meal at the Ryde College Campus.

An invitation to this dinner will be included in the pack later in the year that provides details of the venue, date, cost and time.

Communication and Contact

As it becomes available, more information, including permission slips and packing guides will be posted on the College Portal .

A Parent Information Evening for the Year 9 Challenge will be held on Wednesday, September 11th in the Theatrette, commencing at 7 pm.

Students will be provided with a booklet prior to the Challenge which will have all of the venues, transport details and a set of frequently asked questions which have proved very helpful in the past.

Should you have any questions leading up to, or during the Year 9 Challenge please do not hesitate to contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it (click to email) or on 9882 8113.

Cassandra Winfield
Year 9 Challenge Coordinator
Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview