Each year, St Luke's students have many opportunities to travel to various locations around the world, to either be involved in service projects to communities that are in need, or to learn from different cultures.
These tours cover all aspects of learning and are available to students in Years 6-12.
- LIGHT Tours
- Curricular, Sport and Performing Arts Tours
LIGHT Tours
This stands for (Learning In God’s Hope Together and are service-learning trips where students have an opportunity to learn more about the people, histories and culture of the places they visit while serving alongside local people). This group of tours have and will include travel to Central and Northern Australia, Fiji, Cambodia and Uganda.
The Curricular/Co-Curricular tours include the Sports Basketball Tour to the United States for students, the European History Tour and a Regional/International Music Tour.
Central Australia (Years 6 & 7)
The aim of this tour is to provide students in Year 6 with an immersive educational experience of Indigenous culture and context. This trip will provide opportunities that align with and enhance the cross-curriculum priorities relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures. Furthermore, students will extend their appreciation of their home country and their wonder of God’s creation along with their sense of purpose and connection in community with Him and one another.
North Queensland (Years 8 & 9)
The Great Barrier Reef is endangered. It is threatened by climate change, catchment pollution, coastal development, and fishing. This Critical Issues program focuses on conservation. It provides students with an in-depth look at issues, challenges and solutions related to conservation of the Great Barrier Reef and Wet Tropics in Far North Queensland. Students meet with stakeholders from the region’s tourism and agriculture sectors, helping them to understand economic considerations. The students hear stories and perspectives from environmental management groups and see presentations from researchers who are working across sectors to find solutions. This experiential education tour of Far North Queensland provides first-hand insights that extend classroom learning.
Top End (Years 10 & 11)
An expedition of service and adventure in East Kimberley. Students venture across the outback in a 4WD to discover the Kimberley, a wild and remote region of waterfalls, cattle stations, kangaroos, dingoes, and crocs. Students support Aboriginal youth development projects and contribute to social services through cooking meals for a women’s shelter. They will learn about ancient Aboriginal culture through immersions and workshops, building cultural bridges to lead our country towards reconciliation.
Gold Coast Sports Tour (Years 5 - 9)
We are excited to offer this tour to St Luke's students. This sports tour will allow us to link up with schools in Northern NSW and the Gold Coast region. Students will have opportunities to train and play interschool sporting competitions against locals schools in sports such as:
- Basketball
- Soccer/Futsal
- AFL 9s
The teams participating will depend on student numbers and level of interest.
Other opportunities will exist for students such as:
- Surfing - attend the high-performance surfing centre on the Gold Coast
- Mountain Biking - Ride a number of trails at Nerang, home to the 2018 Commonwealth Games course.
Students will also have an opportunity to attend Theme Park to round out their time.
Snowsports Camp (Years 9 - 11)
This camp is open to all students in Years 9 - 11, including students who have not skied or boarded before. It also offers the opportunity to develop our intermediates and fine tune our advanced skiers and boarders. But most importantly it is about sharing some wonderful experiences as a group.
Performing Arts Tour (Selected Ensembles)
This tour provides an opportunity to take the repertoire from the Winter Music Showcase on the road and work with our counterpart schools in Dubbo and/or Orange. Students will also have some down time and visit the Western Plains Zoo.
Overseas Tours (Pre-Covid)
FIJI (YEAR 8)
The Year 8 service trip to Fiji aims to give the students a community service experience through volunteering with and learning from a local community on Naviti Island.
Rustic Pathways facilitate the trip and have been leading service trips internationally for Australian students for many years, specialising in providing sustainable and meaningful programs for high school students.
Our students spend a number of days living close to a local village, learning about the local people and customs, the environment and marine life, helping to undertake research and restoration projects that lead to the sustainability of the immediate environment.
CAMBODIA (YEAR 9)
The Year 9 LIGHT Tour to Cambodia aims to allow students to learn from and work with local Cambodians as they undertake key community projects. The students have opportunities to teach English in one of the local schools, and assist a community to landscape their village. Included in the trip is also a visit to some local landmarks and temples. This trip is facilitated by Camps International.
UGANDA (YEARS 10-12)
The Years 10-12 LIGHT Tour to Uganda has been an ongoing commitment by the School for over 15 years. Initially the tour involved a mission trip to Watoto, but a new partnership has been established with the 100% hOPE Village.
The trip allows a group of students to visit the Village and provide practical help through building either homes, classrooms or facilities as well as assist the teachers in the classroom of Hope Christian College.
While in Africa, the students take the opportunity to encounter the African wildlife through safaris and visit key tourist destinations such as Victoria Falls.
EUROPE (YEARS 10 & 11)
Europe has provided a rich source of inspiration for many St Luke’s Language and History students over the years.
School trips have included attending language school in Paris as well visiting iconic tourist and historical sites to enrich learning.
More recent History trips have seen students exploring the WW1 battlefields of northern France and Belgium as well as visiting Paris, Rome and the Bay of Naples.
BASKETBALL USA
Every second year, students in Years 10 & 11 are able to travel to the USA to play Basketball against multiple American high schools. Typically, the tours comprise of 2 boys teams and 2 girls teams, in addition to supervisory staff. In recent years, the teams have toured the West Coast (California, Oregon), the East Coast (New York & Boston) and the Southern States (Texas & Florida). All trips also include sightseeing, shopping expeditions and theme park visits.
