Kinross Wolaroi Family Bulletin

International & Regional Engagement

RS IDEALS 2023 

Internationalism 

 

The internationalism group has spent this year implementing activities and events with the overarching aim of increasing the global outlook of our school. Our focus areas included charity, raising awareness and increasing our students’ connectivity. 

 

The highlight of the RS internationalism group, the weekly “What’s Happening Around the World”, written and formatted by the internationalism students and featured articles covering sport, county profiles, entertainment, politics, good news and general updates from the world. This was shared to every student in the senior school, with the aim to expand their global mindset and spread news of important events that may otherwise be lost in mainstream media. 

 

Another project of the international group was the Student Exchange Lunches. Student exchanges to Kinross from other countries, Kinross students who have returned from Round Square exchanges, and their buddies, host families and friends were invited to catered lunches hosted by Internationalism. These were a great success and met with much enthusiasm by the exchange community. To have the opportunity to meet with the kids on exchange provided both the exchanges and the internationalism community with a priceless cultural exchange. It also was an opportunity for the students to meet the Round Square community facilitating the exchanges and provide feedback and suggestions for the development and improvement of the programs. 

 

The Internationalism group has had a fantastic year so far and has many more exciting developments and events to come. 

Emily Zell 

 

Democracy 

 

Freedom of expression and ideas are encouraged in Round Square schools, and student voice and debate are fostered through the establishment of suitable forums and communication channels. The Round Square Democracy Ideal aims to support and embrace freedom of thought and speech by valuing the important of student voice this is done by ensuring a sense of equality, justice and a desire to do what is right for the school community, year groups and classroom environments. Throughout 2023 the Round Square Leaders in Democracy worked hard and met frequently to discuss the importance of Student Voice amongst the Kinross Wolaroi School Community. With this in mind we established the Student Voice Council (SVC), the SVC is a group of elected people to talk and connect around issues or topics of debate that our students can act upon and change. 

 

Student Voice is valued and Kinross Wolaroi and the Democracy Ideal aims to empowers students to have a say ensuring that their perspectives, needs, and ideas are considered, leading to more engaging and effective learning experiences.  

 

While the SVC was the Democracy IDEALS main achievement many other ideas were discussed which we hope future leaders can implement and aim to improve with the hope of bettering KWS for students providing incentives to engage and cooperate in matters that involve students. Other ideas we had included:  

  • Academic Awards with canteen credit 
  • Diary Artwork competition for next year’s diary 
  • Student led tours of the school   

Ava Peterson 

Environmentalism 

 

Over the past year, the members of Environmentalism have been planning and running projects to improve sustainability within the school and the wider community. We hosted a “World Bee Day” stall selling bee-related products, including hand-made beeswax wraps and lip balm, to raise money for bee conservation and encourage the use of non-single-use packaging for food. We also took a group of students to view the Waste2Art exhibition, a competition in creating art from recycled materials, promoting the importance of reducing textile waste, and finding ways to reuse and recycle products effectively. 

 

In Term 4, we have introduced a Senior School ‘book exchange’. It has been set up inside a re-purposed fridge, painted and constructed by students in environmentalism. For all book lovers in our community, it serves as a great and waste-free way to recycle books. Term 4 will also see the group host another clothes swap event as we try and shift our generations culture away from fast fashion and more towards recycled and repurposed wardrobes.  We will also attend the inaugural HICES Sustainability Expo at Hills Grammar where we will host an information session on our Book Exchange and a workshop in making Bees Wax Wraps.  

Niamh Webster 

Adventure  

 

Earlier this year we hosted the MLC Year 8 girls to have a walk on Mt Canobolas and other activities such as art activities with the Year 11 Visual Arts students. The Kinross Wolaroi Adventure leaders  greeted the first group of girls and were eager to go up and explore the trail with a slightly damp track beneath us. After walking for a few hours and taking through multiple MLC groups the leaders were tired but were rewarded in seeing what we had accomplished and also by learning new things whether it be about the mountain and area or about MLC and the similarities and differences between the schools. This made it a valuable experience for us to be a part of and a positive activity for our Adventure Group. 

 

The Adventure leaders also organised a dragon boating event. We were all very excited and were able to round up the numbers to make this a worthwhile experience! The Orange Dragon Boating committee were gracious enough to host us and lead us through a beginner’s course on how to Dragonboat. This was supposed to be at Lake Canobolas at the end of Term2, however, the weather had different plans. Heavy rainfall and record low temperatures were forecasted for that Sunday morning, so unfortunately the event had to be postponed. But this did not hinder the success of the event, with nearly 30-40 students from Kinross Wolaroi participating at the end of Term 3. These students were able to fill two boats,  we each learned how to row, and played a fun game at the end to complete this exciting morning. Thank you to every staff and student that took the time out of their Sunday morning to support the Adventure ISEALS in this event! 

Charlie and Brooke 

Service

 

This year in the Service Ideal we have focused on community-based projects, that can have a tangible impact on our immediate surroundings. We have recognised the importance of Service being something that impacts the wider community – something we can address by giving our time, as much as raising funds. 

 

This began with regular lunchtime sessions making sandwiches for students in our community who may not have access to the food they require to ‘grow, learn and succeed’, as part of the Eat Up Australia Initiative. We also arranged for a group of students to attend weekly sessions with the Riding for the Disabled Association. During this time students would assist horse riders with a physical or intellectual disability, helping to develop their skills with horses by facilitating riding sessions. These sessions were fitting in our goal to give of ourselves to help others within our community, and we are thankful to the Riding for The Disabled organisation for allowing us the opportunity to assist. 

 

The Service group also organised a 24 hour walk-a-thon around our oval, as part of the Pink Stumps Project, in order to raise money for breast care nurses in Orange. As a group, we asked local businesses to sponsor our walk with each dollar we were sponsored equating to a lap of the main oval the group needed to walk. We set a goal of $5,000 for the event. With the but the help of our school, local and regional communities we nearly doubled this number, raising a sum of $9,378, walking a lap for every dollar we raised. This was a fantastic community event, and we thank everyone who contributed to the day!