Last week, Year 7 students swapped the classroom for the quiet beauty of Kangaroo Valley, participating in an outdoor poetry excursion designed to bring their learning to life.
Held at The Retreat in Kangaroo Valley, the excursion was inspired by a workshop presented at the 2024 English Teachers Association (ETA) Conference. The aim was to deepen students’ appreciation of poetry through direct engagement with the natural world—taking them beyond textbooks and into the wild, poetic heart of the Australian landscape.
The activities formed an extension of the Year 7 English poetry unit studied earlier in Term 2. Set among towering gums, reflective lakes and rustling leaves, students worked in pairs across three creative workshops: Nature’s Storytelling: Sensing Country, Walking Interview: A Poetic Journey, and Symphony of the Valley.
In Nature’s Storytelling: Sensing Country, students explored the concept of Country in Indigenous Australian cultures—not just as land, but as a living entity filled with stories and spirit. After reading an excerpt from My Country by Oodgeroo Noonuccal, students ventured quietly through the bushland, selecting small natural objects that spoke to them. Using sight, touch, sound and smell, they created free verse poems reflecting on their object’s relationship to the land and the stories it might carry.
Walking Interview: A Poetic Journey invited students to observe and describe the environment around them while walking in pairs. As they moved through the valley, students recorded their conversations, weaving sensory language into a shared poetic reflection inspired by the shifting landscape.
In Symphony of the Valley, the focus turned to sound. Students closed their eyes to listen closely to their surroundings—hearing leaves crackle, birds call and creeks gurgle. Together, they used onomatopoeia and personification to transform these sounds into playful, character-filled poems that brought the natural world to life on the page.
“The lake, so serene, a beauty rarely seen,” wrote Akshay, drawing inspiration from a quiet moment by the water. He reflected on how being in nature has helped him learn “to use all my senses to learn about my environment.” For Henry, the surroundings brought fresh ideas: “Leaves freeze, afraid of being stepped on,” he wrote, enjoying the creative potential of personifying nature.
When asked about the experience, Henry said, “Writing poetry in Kangaroo Valley is different because you are art in nature, where ideas flow from inspiration around you. But in the classroom, it is much more difficult to come up with ideas or to be inspired.” Akshay agreed, describing the valley as the birthplace of his poetry journey: “The first poem I ever wrote was written in Kangaroo Valley and I have learned so much since.”
Students returned to School with a bank of ideas, drafts and reflections to further develop. Their work will be published in a class anthology titled Poetry in Kangaroo, celebrating the creativity and voice of each student shaped by the rhythms of nature.
Special thanks to teachers Amanda Fajou, Joseph Clark, Nicole Pool and Phoebe Hussey for guiding and inspiring our young poets throughout this memorable day in Kangaroo Valley.
