Q & A Excursion

On the evening of Thursday, 10th November, Giovanna, Michelle and I had the pleasure of taking a group of ESC students to a live recording of Q & A. The students all looked and felt amazing in their blazers and represented the school with dignity. As teachers this is the stuff that gives you goose-bumps and literally makes you tear up – seeing the kids so excited, empowered and engaged was a proud and emotional moment. 

Although our students didn’t get to ask a question, they were engaged from the moment we walked into the ABC studio. We speak a lot about student agency in our sphere but Thursday night was truly a moment where you could see students looking around and thinking, maybe one day I could work here. I told them to aim higher and plan to sit on the panel as leaders of our country. It also brought home how powerful diversity and inclusion are for our students, who looked at Anne Aly, one of the first two Muslim ministers and saw themselves. 

Helia & Mariam were squeezing each other’s hands when Anne was speaking, which was captured on screen. I haven’t watched it, you can see it on iView, so I don’t know if you can see where the kids were doing heart signs to Anne and she returned them. Amazing. 

One of the students commented that this “was a once in a lifetime experience”. I said no, this was just the start of many more …

Leilani Masoe

Mary Loar

Helia Rastgoyan

Mariam Malik

Yen Le

Abby Midgely

Ira Samson

Will Long

Addyson Romari-Rowan

Olivera Mitrovski

Kaitlin Long

Mayah Obamwonyi

Analise Gubecka

We were so proud to see our students in action in the wide world beyond Epping, confident and enthusiastic. 

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" It was a really exciting and fun experience, as I never expected the behind the scenes of a show to look like that. Just sitting in the crowd and listening to these questions I would never have thought of taught me a lot. Overall, a very lovely experience" 

Addyson Romari-Rowan

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"Once we got there (even leading up to it) it was so surreal to see behind the scenes of the Q &A show. It was so much fun, and it was a once in a lifetime experience that I'll never forget. I wish I could go every week."

Mayah Obamwonyi

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What a wonderful group of future leaders we have here at Epping – intelligent, curious, passionate – they must have had amazing teachers along the way who encouraged their student voice and leadership!

Colleen Hart, Michelle Robertshawe and Giovanna Hill