Broadening horizons with purpose in Year 9

A year of growth

Year 9 is commonly recognised as a defining stage in a young person’s development. It is a time of transition for students growing into young adulthood. It is also a time when students often begin thinking more deeply about their own identity and belonging within their world.

This is why the Pre-Senior Program at Haileybury is designed to complement this crucial developmental stage by broadening students’ understanding of both their world and themselves.

“Year 9 sits at a really important developmental point. Young people are beginning to ask bigger questions about who they are, where they belong and what they are capable of. Our role is to create experiences that give them increasing independence, while surrounding that challenge with the right relationships, structure and support,” explains Aidan Ryan, Senior Head of Pre-Senior.

Helping students to learn from the wider world

What distinguishes the Pre-Senior program is its educational and developmental focus. It is built around the priorities of belonging, independence and identity, generosity and mastery. These priorities are used to prepare students to not simply see the world with new eyes, but to understand, engage and contribute to it.

A highlight for many Year 9s is the two Explore and Expeditions trips. Each trip is about ten days long and give students a chance to learn through travelling and trying new activities and experiences outside the everyday classroom experience.

This approach is designed with clear learning intentions. Across the year, students are given increasing opportunities to reflect, voice their thoughts, take responsibility and build connections beyond their established friendship groups. Explore and Expeditions provides an especially powerful setting in which to put those qualities into practice, but the same principles shape the wider Year 9 experience.

In 2026, students were able to choose their two trips from a selection of 20 destinations across Australia, Asia, the Pacific, Europe, and North and South America. These programs were all designed to encourage students to connect with different peoples and cultures, far beyond their usual school environment.

“Across Pre-Senior, we think deliberately about the kind of growth we want to see during Year 9: a stronger sense of belonging, increasing independence and identity, generosity towards others, and the confidence that comes through developing mastery,” says Aidan.

Experiences with real impact

Importantly, before they depart, students complete a Global Competency Primer, learning more about their destination, including its history, culture and current issues. This helps them to approach their trips with respect and curiosity, and to see the trips as meaningful learning opportunities rather than holidays.

Every trip also includes a cultural experience, designed to help students learn more about a culture they may not be familiar with.

This has included interactions with First Nations communities, connecting with locals or taking part in hands-on workshops such as cooking or dancing. Destinations in 2026 include places as varied as Far North Queensland, New Zealand, South Africa, Cambodia and Panama.

Each trip has also included a practical project that assists the local communities they visit. Examples include building a village water tank or a school room, or joining a beach clean-up or other project important to the local community they are visiting.

“Travel alone does not necessarily produce growth. The learning comes from what students are asked to notice, contribute, navigate and reflect upon,” explains Aidan.

The impact of the program is often seen in the students’ reflections. Many talk about overcoming fears, being prompted to interact with new people, form new friendships or simply feeling more confident.

One student who travelled to New Zealand shared that the highlight of the experience was meeting new people she would not otherwise have known and building her independence by travelling without her parents. Another, who walked the Camino Trail in Spain, spoke of the confidence gained through exploring an overseas country and being challenged to interact with local people.

That same sense of purpose extends to staff, with teachers undertaking extensive professional learning before each program and structured reflections afterwards. New staff work with more experienced leaders to ensure all students are supported and challenged to think about what they are experiencing meaningfully.

Over the course of Year 9, families, teachers and students often witness student growth. Students frequently return more confident, more independent and more willing to be challenged in the future.

Many students also report they have developed stronger relationships with peers and teachers. They reflect on discovering strengths they did not know they had, such as the determination to complete a ten-kilometre hike or communicate with someone who speaks a different language.

Students also reflect on having a greater awareness of other cultures and being able to be more adaptable or independent, while also appreciating their home situations.

Ultimately, the purpose of Haileybury’s Year 9 program is not just to show students new perspectives on their world, but to help them understand and feel better able to interact with it.

“We want our students to leave Year 9 knowing themselves better, understanding others more deeply, and believing they are capable of contributing positively to the communities around them. If they finish Pre-Senior more independent, more generous, more connected and more willing to embrace challenge, then we have done something worthwhile,” says Aidan.