Creating Global Citizens
Rob French, Principal
Despite being restricted in our ability to travel around the world over the last few years, Kilvington’s Global Connections Program remains one of the School’s Flagship Programs.
Our focus has remained on maintaining strong connections with our partner schools in Japan, France and China as we value preparing our students with the skills to thrive in a highly connected world.
The design of our Global Connections Program is to foster intercultural understanding, which is essential in cultivating students into responsible local and global citizens.
Either through discussion groups in the form of virtual forums, exchanges of articles on global issues, or through the immersion in another culture, students not only extend their language skills, but also experience the fluid nature of culture – its challenges, diversity and moments of inspiration.
From these experiences, students grow a deepened appreciation and mutual respect for both our commonalities and our differences. The nurturing of these attributes and skills equips students to be confident, creative and vital participants in an increasingly interconnected world.
As we consider the possibility of travelling again, we eagerly look forward to our students connecting with their peers at our partner schools including Shanghai West Yan’an Middle School, China; Saint Joseph-La Salle in Toulouse, France; Hiroshima Jogakuin Junior High School; Todoroki High School; and Seiyro High School, Japan.
YEAR 7 CULTURAL DAY - FRENCH
Archie Fifoot and Aarav Amara, Year 7
Year 7 Cultural Day is all about learning about different cultures across the globe. It is about religions, beliefs, places and, importantly, languages. Languages allow us to communicate with countless people in various places around the world as well as understand their way of living.
Our Year 7 Cultural Day at School was extremely fun and exciting. We first split up into our chosen language groups: French or Japanese. As we are both studying French, our day was very French.
After having two French lessons in the morning, we then combined into little task groups and made a poster about a French-speaking country. Our groups chose the countries, Djibouti and Haiti, which were very fun to learn about.
We learnt about the variety of festivals celebrated, famous people and food, the location and special places, and many more interesting facts about our chosen countries.
Shortly after, we had a Languages assembly. People went up on stage to talk about the relationships, connections and the many great things about France and Japan, as well as a quick demonstration of French and Japanese speaking from some Year 12 students.
After lunch, we formed into our normal class groups where we did French drama which was very energetic! We enjoyed just being ourselves and learning many new words.
Finally, we did some baking! A few teachers demonstrated how to make a couple of snacks such as the madeleine and a cake called gâteau au yaourt. We all got turns in helping with the cooking: cracking the eggs, pouring the milk and more.
Overall, this Cultural Day was really fun and intriguing. We all loved learning about the different and interesting facts about France and Japan.
YEAR 7 CULTURAL DAY - JAPANESE
Charlotte Ignasiak, Year 7
As a Japanese Language student, Year 7 Cultural Day was an extra special day for me. I loved everything, especially the drumming and the opportunity to wear a traditional Kimono!
The day before, I was worried about how everything would be and whether we were expected to know a lot about the activities in advance, but all the teachers took it nice and slow enough for us keep up with it. This Cultural Day was a blast!