Director of Learning and Teaching

Our International Assembly last week was a colourful and joyous occasion, celebrating all the ways in which our school embraces the languages, culture and people from around the world. Our visitors from Sanshui Foreign Language School BFSU, alongside our international students, performed a dragon dance across our stage, and we were treated to a musical performance on a Guzheng, a traditional Chinese instrument, evoking images of a Typhoon.

Our Year 11 and 12 students conversed in a range of different languages, discussing their hobbies in French and Chinese, with Vice Captain Fay reading our Assembly prayer in Indonesian. All of our ELC to Year 8 students study a foreign language at College, and many students choose to continue their language studies in Year 9 and beyond. The benefits of studying a second language are well-known and can improve problem-solving, creativity, concentration and memory. Even for those who have not continued learning Chinese or French into their later years of schooling, there was an opportunity to reconnect with different cultures and build connections with other students through meeting and learning with our visiting students. 

All of this has occurred against the backdrop of the beginning of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, an occasion where we all have a chance to see and hear stories from around the world while we celebrate and cheer on our Australian Athletes, who are themselves great role models for our students in their grit and determination to achieve. There are so many lessons to be shared with our children as we watch the games unfold.

That hard work and sacrifice underpin each medal is undeniable, and it has been exciting to watch the medals rack up in Swimming, Canoe Slalom, Shooting, Equestrian and BMX Cycling. But I have enjoyed learning and sharing the stories of the athletes who didn’t make it to the podium – Boxer Harry Garside and 14-year-old skateboarder Chloe Covell, among others. Their grace and attitude when they faced adversity after years and decades of hard work illuminate true character, and it is this that I share with students and my own family as lessons to be learned, which we can take from and apply in our daily lives, both at school and at home.