Student Wellbeing
Building Belonging and Global Awareness
This week, we were delighted to welcome 13 exchange students and 2 accompanying teachers from China into our POPS community. Their visit brought a unique and deeply enriching experience for our students, staff, families, and the broader school community.
Cultural exchanges like this go far beyond learning a few new words or trying new foods. They open hearts and minds, nurture empathy, and invite young people to step into each other’s worlds. Most importantly, they strengthen our school’s commitment to belonging and global awareness, showing us how connection, curiosity, and respect can bridge cultures and build understanding.
Our visiting students brought with them the richness of their language, customs, and lived experiences. Their presence in our classrooms and playgrounds created opportunities for conversation, reflection, and celebration of difference. At POPS, we believe every student should feel safe, valued, and included and this experience helped bring that vision to life on a global scale.
We’re especially grateful to the POPS families who opened their homes and hearts. By sharing everyday routines, meals, and conversations, they helped build deep, cross-cultural connections that extended well beyond the school day. These moments of welcome and warmth helped both visiting and host students feel that they belong not just as guests or hosts, but as equal and valued members of a shared experience.
For our visiting students, this was more than a school visit; it was an immersion into the rhythms and relationships of life at POPS. They joined in learning, played in the yard, shared stories and laughter, and became part of our school’s daily life. Through these interactions, they experienced what it means to be part of a community where everyone is included.
The benefits, however, reached far beyond the host families. All POPS students were given the opportunity to broaden their perspectives, learn from one another, and appreciate both the differences and the common ground we share. Classrooms came alive with vibrant discussions, new friendships, and moments of meaningful connection.
Why Exchange Visits Matter
Experiences like these help us grow a generation of inclusive, globally minded citizens. They support vital learning outcomes such as:
- Cultural Understanding: Students discover new ways of thinking, learning, and living, broadening their worldview.
- Belonging and Inclusion: Every student, whether visiting or local, is recognised, welcomed, and celebrated for who they are.
- Global Citizenship: Exchange builds the skills needed to collaborate across cultures with empathy and openness.
- Curiosity and Engagement: Real-world experiences make learning exciting, relevant, and deeply personal.
- Social and Emotional Learning: Students practise empathy, responsibility, and relationship-building in powerful ways.
At its heart, this exchange was about people coming together, learning from one another, and building a shared sense of community. It reminded us that belonging isn’t just a feeling, it’s something we actively create by making space for others, listening to different stories, and valuing every voice.
We are proud to offer such experiences at POPS and will continue to embrace opportunities that enrich learning, foster connection, and prepare our students to thrive in an inclusive, interconnected world.
Please find our Inclusion and Diversity Policy