International & Regional Engagement

Round Square International Postcard

KWS Hosts – Building Community Connections

What does service look like around the world?  I learned a lot about this in an amazing Round Square Postcard: a Zoom call with students from schools in Australia, India, South Africa, and China with the topic ‘Building Community Connections’. 

Nina Smedley, our amazing presenter, led the main session, and managed to keep the group of 110 participants engaged. Year 11 Round Square leaders led small breakout sessions, called baraza groups (meaning meeting place in Swahili), to learn what service activities the participants take part in, and the specific challenges they faced.  Some schools did charity events across year groups instead of our mixed year house groups. Different schools have different focusses; we are concentrating on our local Orange community where others contribute to international charities and organisations. There was lots of discussion around the effect that student led activities had compared to staff led activities. Gender imbalances, volunteer numbers, and active participation were all things that were problematic in some schools where others had solutions to these issues. 

We then went through a project planner so they could bring an idea for a new service project to their own schools. Corinna Coates, an Engagement Leader for the Uniting Church. helped with the Intergenerational project, begun by our RS service group. Inspired by videos from Corinna, the baraza groups planned their own service activities to take to their respective schools. We helped them identify their objective and the goals they would need to have to bring the plan to fruition. 

The Postcard was entertaining and insightful, we learned a lot about the different structures and formats that service can take place through. The Year 11 students should feel immensely proud for taking on the challenge and adapting to their unique groups. A special thank you to Mrs Gavin who spent a long time organising this event and to Mr Waterson who ensured everything ran smoothly on the day. 

Maka Mutyiri 

Year 12 Student Representative

Junior School TREE Report

Year 1 students were happy to be out enjoying the fresh air at Windermere on 25 May.

The students participated in building part two of their native bee hotels. In small groups, students busied themselves with hammers, nails and timber, constructing shelters for their bee hotels made earlier in the term.  Thank you to Jo Howarth who made this great learning experience come alive.

Once complete they will be placed in a special place at the farm for our native bees to rest and lay eggs.

Did you know? 

The Australian blue banded bee (Amegilla) is capable of a special type of pollination behaviour called ‘buzz pollination’. In some plants, the pollen is trapped inside tiny capsules in the centre of the flower. The blue banded bee can curl her body around the flower and rapidly vibrate her flight muscles, causing the pollen to shoot out of the capsules. As she collects some pollen for her nest, she transfers some of the pollen to other flowers, successfully pollinating the flowers. 

https://www.wheenbeefoundation.org.au/about-bees-pollination/australian-native-bees/

Rebecca Essex 

JS TREE Coordinator