Outdoor Education


Home \| Site Map

Outdoor Education

OCDSB > Programs > Programs for all ages > Outdoor Education

Outdoor Education Centres

The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board owns and operates two Outdoor Education Centres; MacSkimming Outdoor Education Centre in Ottawa’s east end, and the Bill Mason Centre in the west. Both Centres provide high quality, hands-on outdoor programming that is designed and delivered to compliment classroom learning in many sections of the Ontario Curriculum. Each visiting group is introduced to the beauty of the natural world, and our place in it. Learn more by checking out our Newsletter and Outdoor Education Factsheet.

Maplefest will not be taking place at MacSkimming Centre this spring because of renovations to the centre. An open house event called “Open Trails!” will take place on October 5, 2013 where the centre will be open to the public.

Contact Us

Mail: OCDSB Outdoor Education Centres, 3635 Highway 174, Ottawa, ON, K4C 1G9 (Map and Directions)
Phone: 613-833-2080; Fax: 613-833-0770; Email: outdooredcentres@ocdsb.ca

News

2012 Wetland Centre Enhancement Project

Weston Family Environmental Leaders of Tomorrow Program

The Weston Family Environmental Leaders of Tomorrow Program sponsored by the W. Garfield Weston Foundation, will support 1,800 students per year to attend outdoor education centres across Ontario.

THE EVERY STUDENT ATTENDS PROGRAM CONTINUES

Once again, all grade 3 and 7 classes in the OCDSB have the opportunity to visit either the Bill Mason Centre or MacSkimming this year for free

Hydro One Funds an All-terrain Wheelchair for Bill Mason Centre

Hydro One generously donated $5000 to the Bill Mason Centre. This donation will be put towards the purchase of a “new” all-terrain wheelchair for the centre.

GRADE 4 TEACHERS, SIGN UP FOR PROJECT WEBFOOT!

During the fall of 2011 and the spring of 2012, MacSkimming and Bill Mason Centre will be again offering the Ducks Unlimited Project Webfoot program to Grade 4 classes.

Programs

Visitor FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Students, teachers and parents
select the site you will be visiting below:

Facilities & Rentals

Facilities and Rentals

MacSkimming's facilities are available to rent on weekends and during the summer off-season. The sites are perfect for weekend retreats, summer programming, and camps. Pleases see our new Rental Rates effective September 1, 2009 and Facility Rental and Release Form.

IMPORTANT: All groups renting MacSkimming facilites must present proof of Commercial General Liability coverage in an amount not less than $2,000,000 per occurrence, including endorsements or other coverages appropriate to the activities. Such coverage shall not exclude injury to participants.

The Pioneer Village
MacSkimming's Pioneer Village, nestled in the Centre of MacSkimming's 400 acres, consists of the Village Inn, 6 Rustic sleeping cabins and Galloway House. Buildings were originally built in the 1880's and are of log and mortar construction. Please click here for photos and facility details.

Trail's End
Trail's End site consists of Trail's End Lodge, Osborne House and Tamarack Dorm. It is beautifully situated at the south side of MacSkimming with excellent access to walking trails, and an open field for large-group games. Trail's End is a terrific spot for scout and guide weekend camps. Click here for additional photos and facility.

Community

MacSkimming hosts Student teachers from Ottawa University
Macskimming Outdoor Education Centre annually hosts about 200 preservice teachers from Ottawa University's Facultty of Education. This visit is to introduce to student teachers the importance of Outdoor Education within the educational system. Here is a collection of fungus and lichen that the Ottawa University intermediate and senior science preservice teachers found during their October 4th visit to MacSkimming Centre. The objective of this activity was to introduce biodiversity within a natural ecosystem. All these different species of fungus were collected wthin a half acre plot at MacSkimming.

2012 Eastern Ontario Envirothon
Staff from the OCDSB Outdoor Education Centres presented at this year’s Eastern Ontario Regional Envirothon. Evirothon is a unique team competition that rewards students for learning about the natural world around them. This year the event took place at Larose Forest in Prescott Russell. David Deyette and Juwain St. John provided a hands-on soil module study. Students from Earl of March, Glebe, and Nepean Secondary Schools participated in the two day event.

2012 OCDSB Environmental Youth Summit
On May 11, the OCDSB Outdoor Education Centres worked with Nepean High School’s grade 12 “Green Learning” program to present an interactive workshop at the Environmental Youth Summit held at the Confederation Education Centre. The workshop was called “Biological Indicators in the Ottawa River”. The students observed, identified and compared aquatic invertebrates from two different areas of the Ottawa River. By identifying the invertebrates and biological indicators, students could determine the health of the river. Twenty intermediate and secondary students took part in the morning workshop and thirty primary and junior students participated in the afternoon.

Outdoor Education Centres Get the Gold!
Bill Mason and MacSkimming Outdoor Education Centres are very please to receive "Gold" certification by Ontatio EcoSchools this 2011-12 school year. Ontario EcoSchools is an environmental education and certification program for grade K-12 that helps school communities develop both ecological literacy and environmental practices to become environmentally responsible citizens and reduce the ecological footprint of schools.

Ontario EcoSchools certification recognizes a school for its annual achievement in 6 key areas: Teamwork & Leadership, Energy Conservation, Waste Minimization, School Ground Greening, Ecological Literacy (curriculum) and Environmental Stewardship. Throughout the Ottawa Carleton District School Board (OCDSB), 58 schools in total are certified as EcoSchools.This coming fall, MacSkimming Outdoor Education Centre will be hosting two EcoSchools workshops intended for OCDSB students and their EcoSchool groups. The focus of these workshops is to get students and teachers from different schools to share their ideas, learn about biodiversity, explore the forest and develop an eco-plan for their school.