Around the Senior School
Cambodia Tour
Last newsletter we shared some of the highlights of our History/RE Tour of Vietnam and Cambodia.
In this newsletter, students Alice, Oli, Tom, Lily, May and Will share some of their experiences during their three days in Cambodia.
Day 9
The group of 33 students travelled to Phnom Penh in Cambodia, they started the day by visiting the S21 prison. The prison was an old high school that was converted into a prison during Pol Pot’s regime from 1975 to 1979. It was then turned into the genocide museum. They met two of the survivors from the prison listening and learning about their experiences. From here, we visited one of the killing fields where Khmer Rouge soldiers took prisoners of the S21 prison and murdered them, burying them in mass graves.
We finished the day with a tuk-tuk tour through Phnom Penh then catching a river cruise around the bay of the city.
Day 10
Then next day the students visited the royal palace where the guides told them about the history of the royal family. Students then took a six hour drive to Siem Reap stopping at the spider market. Throughout the drive we saw views of the real Cambodia, being exposed to little rundown villages and slums along the main road which housed mostly people working the rice fields in the area.
Day 11 – Siem Reap (Temples of Angkor)
Today we pedalled around the Temples of Angkor with temperatures soaring – the highest in 40 years. We learnt about the history of the ancient city, visiting three of the temples with one being Angkor Wat itself (the largest temple in the complex). We also visited Ta Prohm which was made famous in the movie “Tomb Raider”. To finish the day off we had a traditional Cambodian dinner while we watched a performance of the Court Apsara dancers.
In our next newsletter we will share the highlights of our Building Project for a village near Siem Reap.
Study Hub
Congratulations to the following students for receiving LET Students of the Week this term:
Week 1 – Markus Ivey
Week 2 – Eden Hawker
Week 3 – Pixie Harmer
Week 4 – Hamish Macdonald
STUDY HUB INFORMATION
Ms Boog is running writing workshops for all students at Study Hub – Please see attached table for selected days.
2024 Salvation Army Red Shield Appeal
Our boarding captains James and Aimee attended the launch of the 2024 Salvation Army Red Shield appeal. Each year our boarding students participate in door knocking for the appeal. The girls' and boys' boarding houses compete for who can collect the most money. Aimee and James told a visiting 7 News reporter, that they value being able to support their local community and they feel they are giving something back to the community when participating in the Red Shield Appeal.
Eat it up Australia
Each month one of our wellbeing classes devotes their wellbeing time to making cheese sandwiches for "Eat it up Australia". This charity donates sandwiches and snacks to schools that have identified that they have students regularly arriving at school with no lunch.
This month we received our biggest order yet with 10 different schools requesting a total of 620 sandwiches.
There is more need then ever in our local community and we are so proud of our Kinross Wolaroi students for stepping up to help support our community.
AISNSW Waratah Project Conference
Kinross Wolaroi School hosted the Term 2 AISNSW Waratah Project Conference on Thursday 16 and Friday 17 May.
Thursday started with an Acknowledgement of Country conducted by Year 11 student Kymarni Astill. The men and women then split up to visit specific men’s and women’s sacred sites. The men went to Mt Canobolas (Gaanha Bula), a men’s initiation site and undertook the walk from the top of the mountain to Young Man Canobolas. The women visited Borenore Caves, a Traditional Women’s Birthing Site. The groups then met up at Lake Canobolas before heading out to Molong to visit Yuranigh’s Grave Site.
Friday was held at PLC and started with a Welcome to Country by Wiradjuri Elder Uncle Neil Ingram. Ex-student and current Yalari Support Worker, Chelsea Edwards talked about her experience at Kinross Wolaroi School before Lee Taylor gave a presentation about the Indigenous Program we run at Kinross Wolaroi.
The boys' and girls' Indigenous dance groups then performed three dances, a Welcome dance, a Creation dance and a contemporary dance about Womanhood. Year 12 Student Blake Dwyer and Year 11 Student Kymarni Astill presented AISNSW Waratah Project Senior Aboriginal Education Consultant Rosalyn Thomas with a bag of ochre which was used in the dance performance and a Kangaroo cloak with a Waratah and the Kinross Wolaroi School emblem burnt into it.
The conference was a huge success with a lot of positive feedback from the participants.
