YEAR 9 CAMP
At 7:00am on Tuesday 31st October the Year 9 cohort set off for Canberra. After stopping in Jerilderie and Wagga Wagga for recess and lunch, we arrived in Canberra at about 4:30pm. We headed straight to iPlay to burn some of our energy, enjoying the laser tag, dodgem cars and arcade games on offer. After this we headed to our accommodation and had dinner before going to bed to rest up for the big days ahead.
We woke up early on Wednesday to have breakfast before driving into the Parliamentary Triangle. Our first stop was Parliament House. We were given a guided tour of the building which included taking in the impressive Senate and House of Representatives. Some of us were even lucky enough to go up onto the roof where we were able to spot some of the other places we would be visiting during camp. After our tour we had a session with an educational officer. We were taken into a room resembling the Senate or House of Representatives and went through the process of introducing and voting on a bill. This was a great way to enhance our understanding of how bills are passed in parliament.
After lapping up the sun on our lunch break we next journeyed to Questacon. We enjoyed wandering through the different themed rooms at our own pace. Fan favourites were the vertical slide and the moon room. After Questacon we were off to the Museum of Australian Democracy AKA Old Parliament House. After an interactive session exploring democracy in Australia we were taken to the Old Senate. We once again went through the process of passing a bill, which we were of course experts at after our session earlier in the morning.
Our final stop for the afternoon was the National Museum of Australia. We were given a guided tour that involved exploring various ideas and artefacts associated with individuals and groups imperative to Australian history. Our activity for that evening was ice skating. After learning the correct way or falling over we took to the ice (some of us more gracefully than others) and spent the next two hours improving our technique. By the end of the session there were some people showing some serious skill.
On Thursday morning we decided to take advantage of the sunny Canberra weather. We spent the morning at a local park chilling out and using some sports equipment. After this we headed to the Australian Institute of Sport. We were given a guided tour of the amazing facilities, even getting to watch some athletes training in the process. After our tour we headed to Sportex, AIS’ interactive sporting activity room. We had great fun testing our athleticism against each other.
We injected some cash into Canberra’s economy that afternoon as we enjoyed free time at Canberra Centre.
Our next stop was the Australian War Memorial. As the memorial is currently under instruction we were only able to spend about 50 minutes inside. Our tour guides did a wonderful job at fitting so much in so this was still an amazing and eye opening experience. Many of us left sombered and reflective. Our bus drivers were very knowledgeable about Canberra and explained the significance of various monuments as we travelled down ANZAC Parade.
Our final stop in Canberra was the Mount Ainslie lookout. We enjoyed an Ice cream up here while looking out over the Parliamentary triangle and Lake Burley Griffin, pointing out all of the places we had visited during our camp. That evening we settled in for a movie before heading to bed.
We left bright and early on Friday morning, stopping in Gundagai and Deniliquin before arriving home that evening tired but happy after a great few days spent learning and having fun with one another.
We would like to thank all of the staff who attended and made this camp possible for us.
Tynan Perry & Jack Brown
Year 9 Students
The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion the Australian Government will be contributing funding of $112.50 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program towards those costs. The rebate will be paid directly to the school. This rebate was taken into account when school fees were set for this year.
Ms Grace Scott
Student Extra-Curricular Activities Coordinator