Some schools try Urban Quest once. Alkira Secondary College keeps coming back — and after four years and hundreds of students later, Year 7 Sub School Leader Jenny Moore-Carter is already locking in next year’s date.
The relationship between Alkira Secondary College and Urban Quest started in June 2022 — not with students, but with teachers. A group of 30 staff members experienced the Melbourne CBD Urban Quest first, seeing the format for themselves before bringing it to their students. What followed were two full school days of on-campus Urban Quest incursions — each day split into two back-to-back sessions, with over 300 students participating across Years 7 and 8. Jenny booked again this year for Year 7, and confirmed at the end of the interview that she’ll be returning in 2027.
Why Alkira Chose Urban Quest for Year 7
Jenny’s brief for the day was specific and practical. With 320 Year 7 students split across two sessions, the goal wasn’t just entertainment — it was building genuine cross-class connection at an age where social dynamics are still forming.
“We wanted something that would help them build teamwork together and we wanted them to be able to mix with other kids from other classes.”
The Urban Quest format answers this directly. Teams of five to six students are deliberately mixed across classes, placing students alongside peers they don’t usually work with. The competitive structure — teams racing against each other across the school grounds through a series of smartphone-guided challenges — means there’s no option to be passive. Every student has to contribute, otherwise the team falls behind.
What Jenny Hoped Students Would Take Away
The outcomes Jenny was looking for went beyond a fun day out. She wanted students to develop what she described as “comprehensive teamwork” — the kind that requires genuine communication rather than one or two dominant personalities carrying the group.
“We were hoping that they would work together — that they would learn how to do comprehensive teamwork and be able to work with kids that they don’t usually work with.”
This is precisely why the Urban Quest format is structured the way it is. No single student can solve all the riddles, navigate to all the locations, and submit all the answers alone. The challenges are designed so that different students contribute at different moments, making collaboration a functional requirement rather than a social nicety.
The Students Who Surprised Everyone
Some of the most memorable moments in Urban Quest events come from students who behave completely differently outside the classroom — and Jenny’s observation confirmed this pattern precisely.
“I thought that the kids that I expected to actually run riot around the school were the ones that were the most engaged. They were kind of the ones that stepped up to be leaders as well. So that was really exciting.”
This is one of the most frequently cited benefits by teachers who bring students to Urban Quest — and one of the hardest to predict. The competitive, outdoor, team-based format creates conditions where students who disengage in traditional classroom settings often find their moment. For Jenny, seeing her most challenging students leading their teams was the standout experience of the day.
“Seeing my high-flyers engaged and leading teams and being respectful and doing the right thing — that was fantastic.”
An All-Time Urban Quest Record
The day produced something extraordinary. In the second session, one team completed all 57 challenges in 57 minutes and 57 seconds — submitting every single answer correctly. It is the fastest recorded completion time for an Urban Quest on-campus incursion.
Jenny flagged this as one of the things students would be talking about long after the day:
“I think that they will talk about the winners — and the fact that particularly the second group that they did it in 57 minutes and that they got all the answers right.”
The result speaks directly to the format’s design. Because every challenge requires a correct answer to unlock the next, speed alone isn’t enough. The winning team had to be both fast and accurate — communicating clearly under time pressure, making collective decisions, and trusting each other’s input at every step.
Why This Format Works Differently to Other Activities
When asked how Urban Quest compared to other excursions and incursions she’d run, Jenny put her finger on exactly what makes the format distinctive:
“I just think this one is more comprehensive with its teamwork because one person can’t really solve all the riddles. They have to talk together and they have to work together and they have to listen to each other.”
This is the structural difference between Urban Quest and most team activities. A cooking class, a sports day, or a creative workshop can be completed with individuals working in parallel. Urban Quest cannot. The interdependence is built into the game mechanics, which means the teamwork is genuine rather than encouraged.
Jenny also noted an unexpected engagement driver:
“The fact that they were allowed to use their mobile phones was really exciting for them too.”
For Year 7 students whose devices are typically restricted during school hours, using smartphones as the tool for a structured, competitive academic challenge is a meaningful shift. The technology isn’t a distraction — it’s the mechanism through which every challenge is delivered and answered.
The Tech-Based Format — And Why Schools Worry Unnecessarily
One of the most common questions Urban Quest receives from secondary school coordinators is about devices: will students be distracted? Will they be on social media? Is it actually safe to hand them their phones for 90 minutes in a competitive environment?
Jenny’s answer from the day is the most useful response to that concern:
“The fact that they were allowed to use their mobile phones was really exciting for them too.”
That excitement is the mechanism, not the problem. When smartphones are the tool through which every challenge is delivered and every answer submitted, students have an active reason to stay on the platform. The game penalises any team whose members drift — they fall behind, miss clues, and lose ground to competitors who are focused. The competitive structure does the behaviour management that a teacher would otherwise have to do.
For Year 7 students at Alkira — many of whom had their devices restricted during school hours — the opportunity to use their phones in a structured, purposeful way was genuinely motivating. Jenny noted it as one of the things students would remember most about the day. It’s also why the tech-based format consistently outperforms the paper-based format for secondary students in terms of engagement — the medium itself is familiar, the purpose is clear, and the stakes are real.
Schools considering the tech-based format for the first time can request a trial or familiarisation session — but Alkira’s experience across 320 students across two sessions, with zero reported device issues, is itself a useful reference point. Read more about how Urban Quest uses technology to engage secondary students, including in schools with strict phone policies.
Supporting What Alkira Already Does
Urban Quest doesn’t sit outside the school’s existing framework — it reinforces it. Jenny connected the day directly to Alkira’s broader goals around student relationships and culture:
“It helps them build these positive, respectful relationships and it reinforces the fact that you’re not going to win or you’re not going to achieve if you don’t work together as a team.”
That framing — achievement requires collaboration — is exactly what the Urban Quest format delivers experientially rather than theoretically. Students don’t learn this as a concept. They experience it as a consequence of every challenge they attempt.
Easy to Organise, Easy to Run
For a sub school leader managing 320 students across two sessions, the logistics of the day mattered as much as the content. Jenny was direct about the operational experience:
“As a sub school leader, I don’t feel like I had to do a lot. We got the teams organised. It was just really easy.”
This is the consistent feedback Urban Quest receives from teachers who run on-campus incursions — the preparation is minimal (team lists, a clear start time, a charged phone per student), and on the day the hosts manage everything from setup to wrap-up. Teachers can observe, walk with groups, or step back entirely. Jenny chose to be out and about, which is how she caught the moments that stayed with her.
What Keeps Alkira Coming Back
Four years is a meaningful relationship. When Jenny was asked what keeps bringing her students back, her answer was simple and specific:
“It’s just a really awesome experience for the kids. They’re really excited about it. It’s nice to see them excited about something that they can do outside of the classroom. And it’s nice to see them working together respectfully and kindly and helping each other.”
The Year 8 cohort didn’t run Urban Quest this year — they experienced it as Year 7s and their coordinators may have assumed the experience wasn’t repeatable. Jenny suggested it absolutely is. Urban Quest’s on-campus format uses a new set of challenges each time it visits a school, meaning a Year 8 cohort can run a completely fresh experience even if they participated the previous year. She’s planning to raise it with the Year 8 team.
For other Melbourne secondary schools considering an on-campus incursion for their Year 7 or Year 8 cohort, Alkira’s trajectory — teachers first, then two full school days across two year levels, then individual year level bookings — is a model worth understanding. The format scales from a single class to 320 students across a full school day, and the experience is designed to be genuinely repeatable.
For another returning school’s perspective, read how Plenty Valley Christian College has run Urban Quest incursions across multiple year levels — the same pattern of one great experience leading to the next booking.
Jenny Moore-Carter is the Year 7 Sub School Leader at Alkira Secondary College. Urban Quest has delivered on-campus school incursions for Alkira since 2022, including two full-day events covering over 300 students across Years 7 and 8.
