Primary School students at Newcastle Grammar School have embarked on the year with a new mission: to ‘Choose Courage for a kinder and braver world’. The theme is being adopted across Kindergarten to Year 6, as part of the School’s ongoing Positive Education programme.
During the COVID 19 pandemic that put the world into lockdown, Markham College decided to take action in order to make a difference and “be a part of the solution” by offering MINSA (The Ministry of Health) its design expertise to make Face-shields for healthcare workers in Peru. This project was led by Mr. Jeremy Brown and the Design and MakerSpace staff who were allowed in school during the quarantine to complete the project. Students from Early Years to Upper School also assembled face-shields at home.
The “Gratitude challenge” was born from the social-emotional education programme led by the Learning Support Department at The English School, which strengthened its joint work with both parents and students during quarantine. Bearing in mind that parents were spending more time at home with their children, we programmed some webinars to accompany secondary school parents during this very special time.
Students from St. Clement’s School hosted a Round Square Postcard for students aged 14-18 exploring the theme of kindness. Students asked that each of the participating delegates captured a personal example of giving or receiving an act of kindness, and shares an icon or image(s) that represent acts of kindness prior to the call.
Students from SAI International School in India and Junior and Senior High School of Kogakuin University in Japan have been meeting regularly during the lock-down via Zoom to explore cultural differences and to deepen their global understanding.
Godspell College in Argentina led a collaborative project for students aged 10-12 to connect students from different countries to create an act of kindness for frontline workers during the pandemic. In groups, the students created an act of kindness based on the different multiple intelligences. Then they uploaded a video on FlipGrid showing their work and presenting themselves to students from other schools.
Bishop Druitt College has partnered with Prosper Coffs Environmental Trust on the Seabin Project, to install a seabin in Coffs Harbour to help reduce its plastic pollution impact on the protected habitats of the estuary and the wider ocean environment.
As a part of the ‘Postcard Zooming around the world’ initiative that Round Square launched to keep schools connected during the pandemic, four students from Belgrano Day School in Argentina volunteered to lead a discussion around “fake news” and the need for young people to develop a critical mind around what they read on social media.
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, on March 13th our Head, Peter Rösner and the Senior Management Team made the decision to close the school, two weeks before the Easter holidays and send all students, who were able to do so, home. Seven weeks later, we started the process of bringing years 7-11 back to school as residential students and effectively creating an isolation ‘bubble’ on campus.
Students at Markham College have decided to re-evaluate what adventure looks like to them and created a campaign to “Make Your Own Adventure” using the lockdown as an opportunity to spread awareness that adventure isn’t all about going outside and ‘doing’ activities.
