Year 6 Student Exchange in Australia
Midway through the Songkran Holiday, 14 courageous explorers from Year 6 set off to discover Australia. Whilst hosted by the prestigious Ivanhoe Grammar School near Melbourne for 2 weeks they experienced the wonderful Australian landscape and culture.
Midway through the Songkran Holiday, 14 courageous explorers from Year 6 set off to discover Australia. Whilst hosted by the prestigious Ivanhoe Grammar School near Melbourne for 2 weeks they experienced the wonderful Australian landscape and culture. The first week was spent at an Outdoor Education Centre on the Year 5 camp. (Year 5 there is Year 6 here.) This was a great opportunity to get to know the Year 5 children and teachers as a group outside the classroom. They took part in adventurous activities like Rock Climbing, High Ropes Course and Zip Lining; challenging activities like Commando Course and Orienteering; team building activities like Initiative Exercises and hut building; and had a historical tour of an old Gold Mining town.
The host families looked after our Regents students well and took them on interesting trips to the city, woods, outback or beach for the weekend. The second week was spent in school where the students followed regular lessons in Year 5 and 6. They all worked well in the lessons and, in particular, were able to put their well-developed mathematical skills to impressive use. The children had time to visit a local wildlife sanctuary to see the native species: Kangaroos, Wallabies, Wombats, Tasmanian Devils, Possums and Platypuses. Finally, they took an excursion into Melbourne city centre to visit the galleries with Aboriginal art, see the city from the 88 story Eureka Tower and discover the vibrant colours of Melbourne’s famous Street Art.
The exchange was an excellent experience for our Year 6 students who had such a wonderful time, there were even a few tears as we waved goodbye to our generous hosts.
Story by Nathaniel Mulford, Year 3 Teacher
