MONTGOMERY BELL ACADEMY INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM

Two students from CGS participate in the annual Montgomery Bell International Symposium, spending six months researching and responding to prompts from the organisers before attending the Symposium to hear from experts and formulate, as an international group, an Accord on the chosen topic.

This year’s topic was ‘The Future of Work and the Just Economy’, hosted by the African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg, South Africa. CGS Students Thomas Fahey and Nivedita Gawarikar met with their counterparts from Africa, Europe, Asia, and South and North America to learn, debate and share their findings. In addition to their research, during the six-day symposium, the students heard from an expert in policy and governance, Tessa Dooms, academic Dr Max Matschke, futurist Dr Graeme Coderington, and those working directly in enhancing access to work and the economy, such as Nicola Galombik and the African Reclaimers Organisation. Galombik, who created a job network that now has over 7 million subscribers and worked with employers better to understand the skills and experiences of these jobseekers, leading to better employment, gave a keynote speech that set the tone for the students: how to find solutions to problems that can’t be solved with technology or education. The students rose to the challenge, presenting an Accord that sought to create a fairer future while recognising that the solutions would depend on individual contexts.

This is at the heart of Global Citizenship: making connections and working on global challenges in their local communities. The next Symposium will be hosted by CGS in Canberra in 2024.

Keynote Speaker

MALCOLM GILLIES (CGS 1972) EMERITUS PROFESSOR

Since its launch in 2020, the annual CGS Gough Whitlam Address has included a speaker and a topic chosen that reflects the legacy and example of the School’s most prominent and wellknown former students, the 21st Prime Minister of Australia. This year, the Address was given by Emeritus Professor at ANU and the London Metropolitan University, Malcolm Gillies AM KC. One of our most academically accomplished former students, he holds dual doctorates and multiple degrees in Music, Arts and Education from the Universities of Cambridge, London, Melbourne and the ANU.

To Years 11 and 12 students, Professor Gillies’ presentation on “Your Senses and Your Education” investigated the role of the senses in learning and whether we make enough of the full range of human senses in honing rational and emotional intelligence. He used a range of musical examples performed by student musicians in the Snow Concert Hall to challenge the audience to heighten their sense perceptions and consider the importance of the performing arts.