Outward Bound South Africa runs school camps and courses for primary, secondary and tertiary schools, school sports teams and leadership groups, for learners aged 6 to 21. Every programme is built from your school’s own brief: its mission, vision and motto, the aim you set for the course, and the two objectives you most want learners to work on. Choose a centre-based camp at one of our venues or a journey-based course where the group hikes and camps as it goes.
We run school camps for every stage: grade and orientation camps, team building and leadership courses, President’s Award expeditions, digital wellness and preventative GBV programmes, and a 14-day wilderness adventure for older learners. Each one starts with a short course brief from the school: who the group is, what you want learners to take home, and the practical details of dates, venue, numbers and meals.
From that brief our instructors design the programme around your school’s ideals, so the challenges on the course connect back to the values learners live by in the classroom and on the sports field.
“We are all better than we know. If only we can be brought to realise this, we may never be prepared to settle for anything less.”
Kurt Hahn, founder
Choose the format that suits your group, the time you have and your learners’ experience. Both kinds of school camp are led by qualified Outward Bound instructors.
Ages 6 to 21
Choice of Venue
Your Language
For school camps of three days or longer, your school picks the two objectives that matter most, and the programme is shaped around them. The options are:
Leadership
Teamwork
Resilience
All course gear is included. Each participant brings a R50 gear deposit on arrival, refunded when their gear is handed back in good order, so learners take responsibility for their own kit. For courses away from our Sedgefield base we can also pack tents, sleeping bags and hiking backpacks. Every school camp follows the safety standards of Outward Bound International.
All Gear Included
Certificates
Course Reports
Our core programme themes can also be run for schools, and learners aged 14 to 16 can join our open Summer Adventure Camp in December.
Grade camps and leadership expeditions for Grades 6-12, designed around your school’s goals, with a feedback report for every programme.
A ten-day holiday camp for 14 to 16 year olds at Willow Point, Sedgefield, from 12 to 21 December 2026. Hiking, canoeing, high ropes and abseiling, with meals, gear and 24/7 supervision included.
The full overview of how an Outward Bound course works, the three programme themes, and the formats they run in.
Our online course brief takes about ten minutes. Have your dates, group size, age group and preferred venue handy, along with your school’s mission, vision and motto, so we can build the programme around your school’s ideals.
