Sedbergh's Hut Program-2009

Sedbergh School boasts an elaborate Outdoor Education program providing the opportunity for both staff and students alike to take on a personal challenge while experiencing the natural beauty of our environment. The key to Outdoor Education at Sedbergh is that students have fun while acquiring outdoor skills and developing self-confidence, perseverance, tolerance and self-esteem. The main goals of the OE program at Sedbergh are:

There are various components to the Outdoor Education program.  The longest lasting component is the Hut Program.

The Hut Program teaches self-reliance, practical skills, tolerance of others, the ability to work within a group and the use, understanding, value and protection of our natural environment. Many of Sedbergh’s huts were built by students and some have more than fifty years of history within their walls. All huts are full of character and equipped with a wood stove and three or four bunks, minimal conveniences. Sedbergh supplies the basic tools including kitchen equipment, axes, saws, lamps and mats for the bunks. The success of a hut experience relies heavily upon the ability and resourcefulness of the students.

With his or her classmates and a trip leader, each student spends a minimum of three weekends per year in huts. These planned weekends are compulsory and are guaranteed to be memorable. Beyond the compulsory weekends, students have the option to sign up for huts on a designated 'open hut' weekend.   All hut weekends are supervised by CPR and Wilderness First Aid certified staff.

All hut participants select their meals from a variety of menus and they leave the main school building on Friday afternoon. Students must prepare their huts for the night stocking kindling and wood, organizing and cooking their meals and cleaning up afterwards. When all basic tasks have been completed, students are then free to visit other huts, relax around a camp-fire or play games with their peers and staff on duty. Students must return to their own huts at curfew. Students at huts are not required to participate in Saturday morning sports. This is because they are responsible for cleaning and tidying their hut, washing the rest of their dishes and collecting some extra kindling and wood for the next group. Students return to school for showers and Saturday afternoon activities.

Safety is crucial to the success of the hut program. An on duty staff member is present at all times during the students' hut experience assisting and guiding them through their experience. All students learn the following during their hut nights:

In a very structured school week, the hut program provides students with the opportunity to relax, to recharge and to be themselves. Huts rank among the most important and memorable aspects of life at Sedbergh.

In 2009, the hut program will change slightly.  Some of the changes include..

• • Hut night moved to Saturday
  • Huts to begin at 1:00 pm with hut skills development that has definable outcomes ie.  Chop wood, identify wood, build a fire, fix a hut
  • Three hut groups
    • 1 group of girls
    • 2 groups of boys
  • Each group to be stratified by grade
  • Assess the “health” of the huts
  • Inventory notes and photos will be acted on early and throughout the year
  • Student volunteers will be recruited for hut fix-up under the supervision of the hut supervisor
  • Staff will work with Hut Supervisor to implement the skills, games, outcomes of each hut night
  • Integrate Hut refurbishment into WIC (Grade 9 and 10).  Take a one or two year break from Duxbury Cabin.  Through the WIC program alone, students will learn many skills.

The Huts program is alive and well at Sedbergh.  It continues to be a unique feature of the school’s Outdoor Education program.   We believe the Outdoor Education program at Sedbergh, with the Hut Program being a vital part, rivals the outdoor experience at any school in North America.