Invicta Vlogs
2017 World School Australia - Blog Three
On Saturday, we departed Noosa and headed straight to Australia Zoo. Unfortunately, the weather was not on our side and it rained heavily all day, but that didn't dampen the spirits of any of the delegates! We all had a wonderful time feeding kangaroos, petting koalas, watching a very impressive crocodile and bird show and checking out all the weird and wonderful creatures Australia has to offer!
Later that afternoon, we returned to St Paul’s and were matched up with our host families. We all spent a lovely evening with our hosts, relaxing and relaying all we had been up to. We had a free day with our hosts on Sunday and all had great days out, experiencing some excellent Ozzie hospitality!
We made our way to Queensland University of Technology on Monday – an incredibly impressive centre. We were treated to a tour of the state of the art university and got to experiment with the Cube; one of the world's largest digital interactive learning and display spaces dedicated to providing an inspiring, explorative and participatory experience of QUT's Science and Engineering research. The delegates were given the opportunity to present their initial solutions to the Global Design Challenges and gain some valuable feedback on how to move forward with their ideas. They also had some inspirational talks from some top academics at the university, including the Chief Scientist, who discussed a range of projects currently taking place, such as biofabrication; the process whereby scientists can regrow most types of human tissue using 3D printers!
Later in the afternoon we made our way to Mt Cootha, where we spent a relaxing hour and were treated to some beautiful views of Brisbane.
Tuesday was a very busy day, with a stunning opening ceremony at St Paul’s, followed by booth day, classroom exchanges and country performances. We had a brilliant time speaking to younger students from St Paul’s, the other delegates and our host families about all the things Invicta and the UK have to offer! Ellie, Asha and Holly also loved performing their dance to a mashup of British music again!
We were also invited into a Year 2 class, where we taught the younger students about St George and the story of George and the Dragon. We would like to thank the students and teacher of 2G for giving us such a warm welcome, and for being an absolute delight to spend a lesson with.
We had a brilliant day sightseeing and exploring the city of Brisbane on Wednesday and a very busy day of task preparation on Thursday. Friday then came around all too quickly! The teams presented their solutions to the Global Design Challenges to a panel of experts and discussed what they could bring back to their schools and implement successfully. Asha, Holly and Ellie all did a fantastic job!
The traditional tree planting ceremony was held in the afternoon, followed by the farewell ceremony, dinner and party in the evening. St Paul’s put on an excellent afternoon and evening and the students had some very emotional goodbyes!
Sadly, our time in Australia has now come to an end. We have had an absolutely fantastic 16 days and World School truly has been a life changing experience for us all.
We would like to thank Jon Andrews, Executive Director of Teaching and Learning at St Paul’s School, Dr Paul Browning, Head of St Paul’s School, and Daryoosh Matsudaira, World School Director, for all of their work in organising and hosting the event. Additionally, Tim Osborne’s Design-Led Innovation programme has really challenged us, helping us to push ourselves to think differently. St Paul’s were brilliant hosts, organising an outstanding programme, including a range of activities and wonderful excursions. An awful lot of work goes into the Forum, and the whole team, staff and students, have truly made it an event we will never forget.
Similarly, our host families were absolutely wonderful from start to finish, and we cannot thank them all enough for their overwhelming kindness and hospitality.
We are looking forward to selecting the delegates for the next World School, which will take place at Kanto International High School in October 2018.
