Round Square News May 2011 - Issue 7
Board Meeting at Wellington College The Board of Directors of Round Square, together with the Secretariat, met at Wellington College over the weekend 12/13 March as has been the custom over recent years. The Full Board Meeting was preceded by a meeting of the Executive Committee. The Board Meeting included separate meetings of the various Sub Committees of the Board – Membership, Finance, External Operations (Projects) and Advancement. The first day of meetings was tightly scheduled covering reports from the Regions and Sub-Committees as well as receiving an update from the Executive Director and Project Director. The second day was given over to a facilitated strategic planning session focusing on the areas of Governance and Membership. Documentation regarding Round Square Governance, specifically the Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association, are being reviewed in the light of this facilitated discussion. They will be forwarded to the Round Square Membership before the Annual Conference at Wellington College this year with an opportunity to discuss these documents in Riikas during the Conference. Most Members of the Board of Directors were able to attend a Friends of Round Square (UK) function in London prior to the meetings at Wellington College. It was a wonderful celebration of the work of the Round Square Schools in the UK.
INSIDE
RSIS 2010 Projects
2011 Projects ‘New’ Cambodia
Cancer Shavathon
Great Korean Adventure
First Ever African Regional Conference
Round Square IDEALS in Song
Junior Round Square Conference - India
New Members
International Conference News
Nguni - Cute Hahn
Roderick Fraser, Chairman, Board of Directors, Round Square
Report from Brian Dawson, Executive Director I would like to begin by congratulating Suzanne on her first newsletter. As you will see she has done a great job sourcing articles of news and interest for us. Certainly this edition continues to highlight the enthusiasm and energy displayed by our member schools. The New Year began with promise and has certainly not disappointed. One continues to be encouraged by the variety and growth in Round Square activities across the globe. John O’Connor, head of Brookhouse in Nairobi was welcomed as the incoming Africa Regional Director. At this time, the membership committee met and was able to conclude a number of issues. New Global members were proposed, new
Regional members announced and the notion of Partner schools was redefined. The Board has made progress towards addressing issues such as staffing and governance. A number of Regional meetings and conferences have already taken place along with a selection of Junior and Young Round Square conferences. Most regions have already determined their split for schools attending the 2012 conferences as well as a final affirmation of the Regional Charters. These charters will provide a much needed set of protocols for the running of each region. Preparations are well under way for the 2011 conference which will be held at Wellington College Berkshire.
At the America’s Regional conference held recently At Appleby College, St Andrews school from Roca Baton Florida, has agreed to host a combined conference for 2013. As with all conferences, this promises to be memorable and inspirational. A special word of thanks must go out to all those schools that have collected contributions for the Save Japan relief effort. Brian Dawson Executive Director
RSIS PROJECT NEWS
Greetings from the Round Square office in Bath where our industrious team of ladies is working hard to prepare all the RSIS Projects in 2011! Below and overleaf is a brief overview of what we’ve been up to, but there will be much more in our bumper first edition of the RSIS newsletter coming out in May!
Liz Gray RSIS Projects Co-Ordinator Round Square, Bath, U.K.
Read all about it! December 2010 Projects a great success! “As a result of this trip I now appreciate the schooling that I have just completed. From Margaret and my home visit family we heard stories of children that walk for kilometres just to get to class, whereas many times I have been counting down the minutes until school finishes each day. Furthermore, from seeing the classrooms on the project it makes me truly grateful for all the facilities at my school. Too often we hear friends complaining that the desks are too small, whereas these children only have one plank of wood as a desk. We complain about library lessons, and the Riandira students have books that are much older than them.
Caption under photo
The Project in December 2010 was a new one in Kenya. Having been at the Ilbissl School for the previous five years, the team started a new Project working with the President’s Award and Riandira Primary School near Sagana, 95km from Nairobi. The group started the school’s first proper toilet block, and built a new, much needed classroom. They also removed a huge termite mound from inside another classroom and re-built the floor making it useable again!
There was a team of 43 students in total, with 8 staff. They also enjoyed the company of “Dr Rod” the Project medic and also Brian Dawson’s whole family (Brian, Angela, Warrick, Andrew and Hayley) who managed to make their quick visit of a few days turn into a whole Project. If the Executive Director of Round Square can get their hands dirty on a Project – so can you!
The team also did home-visits, went to church and did a day’s whitewater rafting. The international group then completed a wonderful 4-day safari in the Masai Mara over Christmas.
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Our education is precious and yet we take it for granted. I have now learnt, and am thankful for what I have received and will forever be in debt to my teachers.” Amy Turner, Westminster School
RSIS PROJECT NEWS
Eco-friendly sustainable resources This India Project was organised and hosted by Daly College, Indore. Working alongside a local organisation called the Barli Institute the group worked in Sanawadia village on the outskirts of Indore to provide eco-friendly, sustainable resources for the community.
Clean drinking water for Karen hill-tribe village The Project in Thailand went extremely well, and saw the group working alongside the Pakanyor Foundation to install a supply of clean drinking water to the Karen hill-tribe village of Ban Den Hom in Northern Thailand. Despite it being a smaller teamsize than usual, the Project was completed in record time with plenty of help from the villagers and the team from the Pakanyor Foundation.
After the Project, the team spent a day at an elephant conservation organisation; completed a half-day Thai cookery course and visited some temples and markets around Chiang Mai. We had a group of 15 students and 3 staff with the team, complemented by the staff from the Pakanyor Foundation.
They constructed a wind-turbine, solar panelling, solar cookers and LED street lighting. They learned how to cook on the solar stoves, and spent time with the village children teaching them English, arts and crafts. The group also attended an Indian wedding reception, visited local sites of interest and spent their mid-Project break at the stunning locations of Maheshwar and Mandhu. The international group then spent their Christmas on a 4-day tour of Agra and Jaipur. There were 18 students, 3 adults plus a fantastic team of Project Managers from Daly College (led by the amazing Sarita Badhwar) and the team from the Barli Institute.
Honduras Project The Project in Honduras was a great success once more, and saw the group working alongside the Sociedad Amigos de los Ninos (SAN) in the area of Nuevo Paraiso. The group were working alongside the local people to construct a carpentry workshop for the boys from SAN to learn skills for the future. The team also helped finish a school room and ran activities for the local children. After the Project, the team travelled to Tela to explore some of the National Parks and learn about some of the environmental concerns of Honduras. The group consisted of 14 students and 3 staff working alongside the excellent staff from SAN.
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RSIS PROJECT NEWS
What’s happening on the July 2011 Projects?
Peru
India Ladakh
South Africa
We are delighted to be returning to Peru again this year after the success of the 2010 Project.
This Project sees the team starting a new Project in Thiksey, a valley community 420m along the Indus River from Leh in Ladakh.
The team will be working with the community at Philippolis and Future Nature to complete the school building that the 2010 team started. This will be used by the school during the week, and by the church and wider community at the weekends.
A partnership team of Markham College and ECOAN are planning for the team to be working with the
Round Square worked with Thiksey several years ago, and is delighted to return to help the community build another essential dormitory for the school. After the Project, the group will embark on a 5-day trek in the Himalayan mountains and see some local sites before flying down to Delhi and having a day to see the Taj Mahal before flying home.
village of Pampa Corral in the Lares District of Cusco. Working alongside villagers and ECOAN staff, the team will construct a basic greenhouse out of adobe mud bricks, wood and thick plastic to enable the villagers to grow vegetables that would otherwise not grown in their bleak mountain landscape. The team will also be doing Peruvian music and art lessons (there is a group pan-pipe ceremony with the village at the end of the Project work!); spending a day climbing a via ferrata in the Urubamba Valley and will visit Machu Picchu and the hot springs at Aguas Calientes. We have a full team of 22 students and 4 adults.
At the time of writing, the team has 26 students and 4 staff. There may be one or two places available in the coming month, so if you’re interested let us know and we’ll keep you on the list!
Newsflash! The first Cambodia RSIS Project is taking place this December…..to find out more check out the RSIS newsletter in May!
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The team will also be going white water rafting on the Orange River, and will finish the trip by spending 3 days at a private Game Lodge watching wildlife and visiting the Kruger National Park. The Project is full with 24 students and 3 staff!
Bizarre Project Photo! This photo was taken during a RSIS Project in December 2010. Can you guess where it is? Concerns are growing as to whether our Risk Assessments are thorough enough as they currently don’t include Jurassic hazards……
REGIONAL NEWS
Anania Shirakatsy Lyceum celebrates 20 years Global Member Anania Shirakatsy Lyceum in Armenia celebrated a jubilee year in 2010 and the year was concluded with a ceremony dedicated to their 20th anniversary. To top it all they received their certificate of global membership from H.M. King Constantine II of Greece in October. Koryun Achoyan a student of Anania Shirakatsy Lyceum participated in the Round Square students exchange programme and attended academic studies based on International Baccalaureate curriculum for a month in the United World College of South East Asia in Singapore.
Exchange Teacher from South Korea In January Appleby College in Ontario, Canada was joined by Ms. Yoon Kyung Choi, an Exchange Teacher from the Cheongshim International Academy, in South Korea. She was hosted by Mrs. Karen May-Kim and the Social Science department. In her short stay, she joined the Round Square council where she gave a presentation on traditional Korean Culture, Korean pop culture, and her school. Appleby College also hosted exchange students from Japan, Peru and Spain.
Cancer Shavathon Dainfern College in Johannesberg not only held their own Shavathon at school but Cobus de Ridder, Head of External Outreach and his team also organised and hosted the Shavathons at both Broadacres Shopping Centre and Cedar Lakes Shopping Centre. Music and an upbeat atmosphere contributed to a lot of fun, a lot of shaved heads and in the process more than R45 000 was collected for this worthy cause!
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The International Community at Cobham Hall In March Cobham Hall celebrated their Annual Cultural Festival. With girls and staff from over 30 different countries around the world currently at Cobham they have a very good reason to celebrate their international community.
the result was the best they could imagine. The bright colours of the different national costumes, the props they all created, the ingenious and sometimes hilarious lines in their plays and the much rehearsed moves of their dances everything was perfect!
The evening started with the girls cooking delicious national dishes for everyone. They prepared food from Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Spain, Korea, Japan, Germany, England, China and Africa.
From the sweetest of the Vietnamese tales to the traditional African dances, via hilarious Asian plays, very popular dances, Spanish songs and the traditional English humour of ‘The In Betweeners’
After the feast they enjoyed a programme of entertainment prepared and performed by the students. This included a traditional flag parade, and the cheering was loud as the flags representing each of the nationalities represented in our school passed by.
The Cultural Festival was a great way to celebrate the Round Square ethos in their school. Students from many different countries around the world getting together to celebrate internationalism, students leading a team to prepare for the evening, learning from each other and enjoying every bit of the experience.
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REGIONAL NEWS
Appleby College launch Diploma in Global Leadership In February Appleby College launched the Appleby College Diploma in Global Leadership. This is the first truly integrated global education program offered by a North American boarding school. The new Diploma was created to inspire Appleby College students to embrace their role as global citizens. By introducing global perspectives and including real-world experiences and interactions in the academic and co-curricular program, Appleby will be providing its students with the skills and characteristics required of a 21st century leader.
To graduate with the distinctive diploma, students must complete a language requisite, develop a global action plan, complete a global service co-op, live in an intercultural residence, engage in adventure-based experiences, participate in a global-themed cocurricular and achieve The Duke of Edinburgh’s Gold Award. More information can be found at www.appleby.on.ca
Peruvian exchange students get a taste of life at Felsted Two students from a Peruvian Round Square school enjoyed a taste of British independent school life on a exchange visit to Felsted in February. Lucia Llosa and Camila Boero of Markham College in Lima, Peru shadowed Felsted students, Katie Sunnucks and Alice Stone, who are studying the International Baccal -aureate programme at Felsted. “It’s a wonderful chance for us to improve our English and also to find out how students in another country study and live,” said Camila.
Students can begin working towards the Diploma as early as grade nine. As part of the Appleby College curriculum, all students will complete a number of the diploma requirements; however, those pursuing the Appleby College Diploma in Global Leadership will do so in a more integrated way.
Great Korean Adventure The Great Korean Adventure took place in February as a post-conference activity after the CSIA Model United Nations. From the start this was to be a student-driven activity organized by the Round Square Senior Committee. On the first day more than 12 different activities introduced the foreign students and teachers to Korean culture. For the next three days trips were organised to visit Palaces, the DMZ, Cultural sites, NamSong Tower, the martial arts show “Jump”, Lotte world theme park, and to sample many different kinds of Korean food in restaurants around Seoul. In addition, scavenger hunts were organised around museums and other cultural sites and rewards
were given for those who found the most items. This event was a great success and helped the students develop their leadership and management skills. Chittagong Grammar & Daly College sent 30 students for this event. CheongShim International Academy Round Square Senior Committee plans to have another adventure around in July (18-23) as another post-conference activity after the Givology Youth Assembly. (July 16-18).
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“We’ve found the lessons very interesting and we’ve also enjoyed sightseeing in London and shopping in Oxford Street!” Felsted students Katie and Alice will be making a return visit to Lima in June, spending three weeks shadowing Lucia and Camila at school before taking part in a community school building project. “We put ourselves forward for the exchange because we thought it would be good for our Spanish and it will be fascinating to see how people our age live in South America,” said Katie.
REGIONAL NEWS
Cate-Chadwick Service Day In January the Round Square committee from Chadwick School, a global member in southern California, travelled a couple hours up the Pacific Coast to join with its counterpart at Cate School, currently a regional member, for the first Cate-Chadwick Round Square Service Day. Over 40 students and faculty participated. Cate has been a regional member for four years and its students were particularly interested to learn from their more experienced Chadwick peers so they discussed the structure and function of the RS committee and what kinds of projects they undertake. The group explored the socioeconomic diversity of the Santa Barbara area, a city where Hollywood and television stars live as well as a place where poverty and gang activity exists. Then, at the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County the group learned about the issue of hunger in Santa Barbara and took a tour of the food distribution facility.
The day ended at the Casa Esperanza Homeless Centre where the team served dinner to over 200 homeless. An important member of the Cate-Chadwick partnership was Cate's food service provider the ARAMARK Corp. that volunteered to donate the food and prepare the meal. Both schools hope to gather for a second event and Cate students and faculty will travel down the coast to meet with their Chadwick counterparts.
Primary School constructed for Kattapathar, India Service project near Dehradoon involving 10 days of construction There were a total of 25 students participating from the Doon School, Daly College, Indore, and King’s Academy in Jordan. They were there to help in the construction of a primary school in a village called Kattapathar, which is 60kms from Dehradun. They were living in the Osho Ashram about 2kms from the site. Their stay at the Ashram was an experience in itself – especially the unconventional meditation sessions which included dancing in complete abandon and crying or howling loudly in order to let go of all frustrations buried deep “Little did we know then, that this service project would become an important milestone in our lives in so many ways, and it would fundamentally and completely change our perception of the world around us.”
inside their souls. The construction work itself was gruelling. Eight hours of backbreaking work each day which left them with bruised limbs, blistered hands and aching bodies but their reward was a heart swelling with joy and pride at having made a difference to people’s life. The adorable smiles that lit up the faces of the young children when they saw them toiling away at the building that was to soon be their school, was enough to keep them going. It wasn’t all work and no play! They had crazy dumb charades sessions every night, long soul baring talks, dance sessions and everything else that comes under the category of fun .
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There was considerable linguistic exchange going on as well, with very amusing results! By the end of the trip, they were saying “yalla yalla” which means faster in Arabic, and they were saying “jaldi jaldi”. They had a day of trekking, around 25 kms in one day! The trekking trip was interspersed with unplanned dips in the crystal clear water wherever they came across tempting waterfalls along the way. They went to Mussoorie, Paonta Sahib and a day visiting all the projects been carried out by the Doon School in the vicinity. One day, they were split up into groups and were given time to go into the villages and interact with the villagers. That experience threw up a lot of food for thought. Sanya Ojha, member of the RS Student Committee said “We have indeed come back much enriched by the experience, for one we have learnt to thank God for all that he has blessed us with, because believe me, we are living in pure luxury. We have learnt that no matter how big our problems seem to us , they are nothing compared to the real problems of real people . So we should stop cribbing in life, and start counting our blessings instead.”
REGIONAL NEWS
First ever African Junior Conference in Namibia The conference took place in Arandis and Swakopmund where 93 delegates from 14 different schools were introduced to more of Namibia St George's Diocesan College, Windhoek hosted its first ever Round Square African Junior Conference from Wednesday 23 February to Sunday 27 February 2011. St George’s College became a regional member of Round Square in 2009 and is currently the only Round Square School in Namibia. Namibia is a land of contrasts and the theme, "We survive together” “Ohatu xupu pamwe” was appropriately chosen. Our beautiful country with its desert, ocean and savannah regions, as well as the plants, animals and people have survived for centuries and continue to do so.
Michelle McLean, founder of the Michelle McLean Children's Trust and former student of St George's School, was the guest speaker at the official Opening Ceremony. Ms McLean's life and experiences to date embrace the IDEALS of Round Square and her address to the delegates was truly inspiring. During the 2011 Junior Conference, the delegates experienced each of the IDEALS.
discussions and feedback sessions during the conference.
Internationalism Delegates of all cultures attended the conference, some from as far as Kenya. Democracy A debate with the specific focus on Children's Rights allowed delegates the opportunity to express their opinions on various issues regarding Children's Rights. Environment During an environmental tour, the Namibia Naukluft Park was visited and the delegates were shown the Moon Landscape as well as the Welwitschia Plains. They were informed of various geological and environmental aspects of the region. Night walks also took place and students experienced the Namibian night sky. Various recycling projects were completed at Arandis. Adventure Kayaking in the Atlantic ocean is an adventure for any student. Dune boarding was another unique experience enjoyed by all. Leadership Students were divided into Baraza groups, each with a name unique to Namibia. Each group had a Baraza leader leading
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Service St George's arranged a preconference Service Project at a preprimary school in Dordabis. Twenty students from different schools, including St George's, spent four days before the conference cleaning the pre-primary grounds, building and filling a sand pit as well as repairing and erecting play equipment. In Swakopmund students were involved in beach clean-up sessions between Langstrand and Vineta.
Dune Boarding
Atlantic Kayaking
REGIONAL NEWS
Americas Conference
From April 8-12 2011, Appleby College in Canada hosted the Regional Round Square Conference of the Americas Region. The theme was Unity in Community. Unity in Community looks at how we as global citizens can understand our role in a world that is multicultural and interdependent, so that we may take action to benefit our communities. www.appleby.on.ca/unity2011
Sausage Sizzle Students from Year 10 at Radford College got together following news of the devastation in Japan after the Tsunami hit. Together, students, planned a course of action – seeking out resources and organizing a sausage sizzle in the main quadrangle during a lunch break. In excess of $1000 was raised. The monies raised has gone to Red Cross Earthquake appeal.
Round Square IDEALS in song 17 year old Felsted student Angus Nicholson has been commissioned to compose a choral work, which will be recorded by a virtual choir made up of singers from European Round Square member schools. The project was initiated by Felsted’s head of music, Mr James Lowry, and was very well received by heads of fellow Round Square schools when he presented the idea in Spring 2011.
“Melodic and memorable and sum up the Round Square IDEALS in song” Mr Lowry said “Angus’ brief is to create a work that reflects the Round Square IDEALS. Musically, the work needs to be melodic and memorable, and it should be musically challenging, but nevertheless accessible to all the schools wishing to take part. The tempo should be slow to moderate to help when it comes to mixing the various performances electronically.” Once Angus’ piece is composed and notated, it will be emailed to participating schools, who will record their contributions. These will then be mixed together to produce a work that will epitomise the universal language of music and sum up the Round Square IDEALS in song.
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Angus Nicholson, Felsted Student
Angus said “In this piece I have tried to create a positive and uplifting tone, while also highlighting the Round Square IDEALS. It was challenging, but it’s a great honour to be commissioned to write a work that will be so important to the Round Square in Europe. I hope the choirs will enjoy singing it.” “This is a wonderful way for Felsted to make a contribution to the Round Square at the start of our membership,” says Mr Lowry. “I was most grateful for the support the idea received and look forward to working with colleagues in this intriguing way.”
REGIONAL NEWS
Japanese Day
Technology Link
Enyuka 2011
Following on from Peter Dalgleish’s inspiring presentation at last year’s International Conference, students at Ivanhoe Grammar School Plenty Campus have been working on the concept of using technology to link with students in other areas of the World for mutual educational and social benefit.
The annual Grade 10 Enyuka Challenge to the Mweni Valley in the Drakensberg proved to be a worthwhile challenge for all involved.
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Students at Cobham Hall in England are quick to help those in need around the world, and a special Japanese Day was organised for Friday 25th March to help those whose lives have been devastated by the recent earthquake and tsunami. A £3 voucher bought permission not to wear school uniform for the day, plus two scoops at the ice cream parlour and, most important, entry to the Staff v Students Rounders Match on West Lawn. A Japanese meal was also on offer at just £1 for chicken teriyaki, sushi and noodles. The Rounders Match was hotly contested. Some staff were more used to wielding a cricket bat or tennis racquet and found the rounders bat quite different. There were one or two challenges to umpire Mrs Hooper’s decisions. In the end, it was the students who celebrated victory when the result was announced. The day raised £900, of which £600 will go to ShelterBox to help families who no longer have a home after the tsunami and £300 will go to the Red Cross Appeal.
Finally on the evening of April 5, groups of Plenty students spent a considerable amount of time chatting to students from Anania Shirakatstsy Lyceum, Armenia – let’s call it “ice-breaking”, although the chat – about music, home, sport, pets, weather, Justin Beiber……was instantly warm and laughter-filled. The next link between the students will be more formal. The Armenian students are going to teach the Australian students something of their incredibly rich culture while benefitting from direct regular contact with native English speakers. We see this program growing into something simple yet incredibly valuable and eventually to the utilization of the “$100 computers” in areas of the World where access to technology is just a dream.
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The intrepid explorers assisted in painting, games and installing two water tanks at a local school before embarking on a journey of a lifetime. Five days of hiking, preparing their own food, constructing their own tent, braving the rain and the cold and working their way to the summit led to an unforgettable experience. Both Natasha van Hoek and Sydney Otieno from Brookhouse joined this expedition. Dainfern College is a Regional Member of Round Square and they are not only organising activities such as the river rafting, but also participating in other activities around the school that contributes towards the IDEALS pillars.
REGIONAL NEWS
Over 1200 delegates at the Chittagong conference Sherry Ispahani, Director of Academics at Chittagong Grammar School in Bangladesh tells Round Square about their experiences in putting together a conference The toughest part of a conference is putting the pieces together - getting a theme, designing appropriate activities that reinforce the theme, getting good keynote speakers, making sure the context is true to the theme and integrating it all together! Once this is put together in a programme repeating the programme is easy!
appropriate to the age group. For example a short film on human trafficking was not shown to our youngest delegates (grade 4) as we felt it was too shocking for them instead they were shown another film ‘a world without water’ which also fit with the theme of global inequalities.
What we do at Chittagong Grammar School is have a core steering committee of around 20 which is made up of staff members and student alumnis working together in different roles to ensure it all runs well throughout the conference days.
“While flying out after a successful international conference in Vancouver in 2008 I thought what a great experience, the only sadness was I could only take 8 students from our school. What about the other 1492 who could not experience it. We can’t take all 1500 students to the international conferences but we can bring the conference to them”
Each day we bring in a year-group, for example we started with grade 6 this year: 154 student delegates and 26 teacher delegates (the entire year group, 180 delegates).
They registered at 7:45 am and went through a day of conference activities finishing at around 6:00 pm. After a days gap we repeated the conference for another year group - and so one. Each day a 180 delegates were given a similar experience. Key note speeches and activities were 'tweaked' each day to be
In essence it is a series of one day mini conferences (we had 7 this year) with different delegates each day. On the final day we had teams from 12 schools join our grade 10. Each school sent a delegation of 9 students and a staff member so we had 120 visiting delegates and 60 delegates from our grade 10. We also arranged an activity day and an ice-breaking session (the day before) followed by dinner for the last days group. The final day ended with a closing ceremony 6:30 to 11:00 pm with schools performing on stage and a flag ceremony. Each day we asked delegates to complete a survey to see how satisfied they were with each part of the conference and so we could put together 'conference stats'. To make it an annually sustainable conference we got some sponsors
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(our educational partners) to share approximately 50% of the costs with the school paying for the other 50%. The British Council was one of our sponsors. We did not charge our own students or visitors any conference fees. We have 12 totem poles as a result of one of the activities and are we are sending one to each sponsor. We have 4 left which we are keen to donate to Round Square for auction for charity but of course these are reinforced concrete columns 6 feet high and weighing 330KG each so we need to work how to move them to the UK. We are now preparing for our next years conference on technologies for a sustainable world and will be inviting schools from overseas as well as our 12 local ones - some of which have a monthly tuition fee of less than US$2 - so really trying to get a cross section of local schools included - sharing the RS philosophy. We expect close to 1500 delegates over the conference period next year.
REGIONAL NEWS
Local Partnership Students from The Armidale School (TAS) in Australia have been working closely with their local partner, Minimbah Aboriginal Primary School, a local non-government school attended by mainly indigenous children. Students from The Armidale School (TAS) have been working closely with their local partner, Minimbah Aboriginal Primary School, a local non-government school attended by mainly indigenous children. Senior TAS students have been involved in weekly peer-support reading and game playing. Reading is normally conducted on a one-onone basis, while games (handball, soccer, basketball and the like) are more typically communal. It is not uncommon, however, to see something like a Year 12 boy helping just one Minimbah child navigating the monkey bars – a lovely sight! Wonderful relationships have been formed and the Minimbah children keenly anticipate the arrival of the TAS boys each week.
it was wonderful to see children from both schools competing side by side. Plans for the future involve, among other things, teacher exchanges between TAS and Minimbah, Minimbah students using the TAS indoor pool for winter swimming lessons (conducted, where able, by qualified TAS students), further peer-support learning extending to digital literacy and numeracy skills and both schools formalising Reconciliation Action Plans supported by Reconciliation Australia. Armidale School are very proud of what has been achieved already and excited about future possibilities.
The partnership of the two schools was most recently extended to Minimbah’s participation in the TAS Junior School Athletics Carnival and
International Marine Plastic Pollution Youth Summit The Round Square family of schools was represented at a world pollution forum for youth hosted recently in Long Beach, California.
Three students from Brookhouse School in Kenya, Samuel Kilimo, Camilla Omollo and Zenani Orengo, travelled with their Biology teacher Mr Eric Mulindi all the way to the USA to participate in this global environmental forum in midMasrch. The Brookhouse team presented a project entitled 'Strategies for Plastic Waste Management in Nairobi National Park' which was one of the winning entries chosen from 74 competing teams worldwide. The aim of the week-long summit was to engage youth leaders in developing action oriented solutions to reduce plastic waste in local communities across the globe.
The Armidale School & Minimbah Aboriginal School pupils
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REGIONAL NEWS
Junior Round Square Regional Conference in India The theme of the conference was Friends Everywhere and was hosted by The Scindia School which is situated on the Fort of Gwalior in the heart of India The theme was selected in order to include children with disability; children working on railway stations and on streets; the rich and famous, who we maintain a distance with because we are in awe of them. The committee felt a need to bring all such people close. Manjula Patankar, Chief Guest for the occasion, a Special Educator Supervisor and Co-ordinator at the
Spastics Society N. India. She works for ROSHNI where children with cerebral palsy, mental handicap, autism and other multiple disabilities live. She spoke of the need to bring such children to the main stream. They are no longer a taboo in the society. She spoke of their growth when supported with love and friendship. Manjula declared the conference open and soon the delegates were witness to a volley of gas balloons with the Round Square logo fly high in the air. The open air theatre resounded with the theme song played live by our choir boys. Each participating school’s flag was hoisted to mark new associations and beginnings.
Two key note speakers, Mr. Sandeep Dutt, National Director of International Award for Young People, India and Awista Ayub, Program Director for US based organistion Seeds of Peace, inspired the delegates to cross racial and religious boundaries. They both spoke encouragingly about the fun of having to make friends. Barazza Leaders escorted their groups of delegates to their respective venues where they started discussions. Student delegates wasted no time and broke down into fiery arguments, excited suggestions, promising projects - it was rewarding to see all of them delve so deep into the topic and bring its different shades with different meanings to the fore. Later delegate groups were broken into smaller groups and sent to various points in the city: Railway Station; orphanage; market ‘Badaa’ and the old city of Gwalior. They were given tasks like learning to make tea from a tea stall; make friends with people they have never met; talk to child labourers and collect their data to help Scindia make a project to sponsor their schooling. On day three the delegates were divided into three groups. The delegates, the Round Square Student Committee and a few staff members left for the village Sonsa. The main task was to build a boundary wall that overlooked a public road. In a typical Round Square spirit, students took no time to hone the
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skills of soaking bricks and passing them on into a never ending line and mixing sand and cement. In not more than three hours, three layers of 150 feet long/4 feet high wall were already laid. Students surveyed the village and bought back data of employment,
children per family, diseases, old people living in the village etc. for the Scindians to take up a new project based on the study. The Nature Walk was with a teacher who knows a lot about the medicinal values of plants growing in and around Gwalior. The Closing Ceremony began with in true celebration with most beautiful and intelligent presentations these wonderful children could make! Each school had prepared dances and songs. The open air theatre resounded with their dialogues, music and dancing feet! Participating schools from the region were: Chittagong Grammar School, Bangladesh; Daly College, Indore; Dhirubhai Ambani International School, Mumbai; Mayo College, Ajmer; Mayo College Girls’ school, Ajmer; Maharani Gayatri Devi School, Jaipur; Motilal Nehru Sports School, Rai; Rajkumar College, Rajkot; Scindia Kanya Vidyalaya, Gwalior; The Assam Valley, School, Assam; The British School, New Delhi; The Doon School, Dehradun; The Sanskaar Valley School, Bhopal; Vidya Devi Jindal School, Hissar; Vivek High School, Chandigarh; The Scindia School, Gwalior.
REGIONAL NEWS
Splashing about on the river
IDEALS challenge week
Barefoot Day
On 21 March, the Round Square Committee at Dainfern College in Johannesberg took a group of learners on a trip down to Parys and went river-rafting on the Vaal as part of our Round Square Adventure Days.
To celebrate their new status as a Round Square Regional Member, Renaissance International School Saigon, Vietnam undertook their inaugural IDEALS challenge week during the month of March. Each member of the school simultaneously attended trips which visited locations including Borneo, Thailand, Cambodia and Northern Vietnam. During their week long residentials, all students had the opportunity to complete learning experiences based upon the IDEALS.
St Cyprian's School in Cape Town, South Africa has celebrated Human Rights Day by encouraging all students to spend the day bare foot at school. This was in recognition of those who struggle with poverty and therefore do not have basic rights met.
The experience was absolutely incredible! They spent the day on the river admiring the beauty of the Gauteng countryside as well as riding a few rapids and having endless water fights. Apart from this, they learnt a lot about rivers and water management in South Africa, which for many of them was an eye-opener – and also covered the Environmental part of the RS Ideals! All in all it was a fun-filled, action packed and educational day that they will undoubtedly have to repeat. Sydney Otieno from Brookhouse also joined them on this adventure.
The week was wonderful in developing personal growth within the students and providing a more balanced, holistic education at the school. Students undertook great opportunities to abseil, work in orphanages and complete overnight hikes, for example. The necessity to overcome challenges and work with others has ensured that all students, at the end of the week, had done things they had never done before. In this way, they have all become more rounded young people. The school looks forward to future challenge weeks and is very excited at playing a full role within the Round Square Organisation.
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It was a version of 'walking in another person's shoes'! Everyone brought a second-hand pair of shoes to school, and these were lined up on the field in a giant '140' shape - the age our school is turning this year! We collected 1415 pairs of shoes which have been sent to a variety of organisations.
REGIONAL NEWS
Round Square give a Nguni - Cute Hahn Tiger Kloof Educational Institution is a Round Square Global School . It is situated in the Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District of the North West Province, South Africa with a vision to develop self-help skills in rural communities. The Institution incorporates a school providing pre-school, primary and secondary education, and a practical agricultural training centre for emerging farmers. Tiger Kloof combats poverty and improves the environment through its agricultural training centre. They provide Land Care Training for school and adult learners, and teach basic household food production
Cute Hahn
through organic gardens and holistic cattle farming methods. They are ideally located to make a difference to one of the poorest provinces in South Africa. They provide training to rural communities and emerging farmers focusing on land care, organic vegetable production for basic household food consumption, and beef cattle farming using ecologically sustainable holistic methods of veld management. No other provider exists in the District. The work done so far in partnership with the local Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment (DACE) has shown the potential that exists for private/ public partnerships to work for the benefit of the people. THE ‘GIVE AN NGUNI’ INITIATIVE Tiger Kloof is acquiring its own herd of Nguni cattle to use for practical cattle farm training. Ngunis are an indigenous breed of cattle, hardy and disease-resistant with a low
food in-take, and for these reasons they are favoured by economically disadvantaged farmers. Tiger Kloof seeks to build up its Nguni herd to 200 animals for practical training purposes. Once the herd is complete, a ‘heifer scheme’ will be established in which heifers will be donated to disadvantaged farmers in the region, with the understanding that each will donate one of the offspring to a neighbour on condition that the neighbour repeats the process. The Round Square Board and many of the Secretariat have kindly purchased a Heifer for Tiger Kloof and the bovine beauty has been named Cute Hahn. Tiger Kloof are delighted with their new addition and all being well, Cute Hahn will produce calves for as long as she is able and to be part of the veld management programme. They think Cute Hahn is pregnant but only time will tell!
Friends of Round Square UK Drinks Reception The Friends of Round Square UK held a Drinks Reception at the Royal Society of Arts in London. The guests were given a glass of Kir Royal, this is a Friends of RS UK tradition as it gives the colour of the logo and has become the signature welcome! The evening was attended by Their Majesties King Constantine and Queen Anne Marie who kindly gave the ‘welcoming address.’ The Chairman, Rod Fraser spoke and Liz Gray gave a project presentation that informed guests about projects and the effect they have on the local community the students involved. Guests included members of the RS
Board, heads, staff, alumni and students from the UK RS schools, Starehe alumni, Starehe Future, companies and corporations. The invitations were sent far and wide including alumni in business, Heads from London prep schools and to Government at No. 10 Downing Street. Tracey Balch said “We certainly intended to raise the profile!” Each school provided an exhibition stand showing their RS activities which really helped inform the guests new to RS what it was all about. A silent auction was held and raised close to £500. Helical Bar Plc
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kindly sponsored the room and Mrs Bhatia from Great Western Royal Hotel sent in a generous donation for the evening. Everyone left with a ‘goody bag’ containing the RS brochure, Friends membership form, items from UK RS schools and from the countries where projects are held. After the event Helical Bar Plc offered a donation to sponsor an RSIS project for the next year.
REGIONAL NEWS
New Regional Members The following schools have been provisionally accepted as regional members at the March 2011 Board meeting held at Wellington College in Berkshire, UK. Their membership will be formally acknowledged at the AGM of the 2011 Conference at Wellington College in October.
Renaissance School, Saigon, Vietnam and St. Paul’s School in Brisbane, Australia.
Round Square is very pleased to welcome the Lyceum Karachi in Pakistan and the All Saint’s College, Nainital, Uttarakhand in India into the South Asia and Gulf Region. In the Australasia and South East Asia region we welcome The
Associate Members The Genesis Global School in Delhi in the South Asia & Gulf Region has been provisionally accepted as an Associate Member along with The Green School, in Bali in Indonesia in the Australasia & SE Asia
All Saint’s College, Nainital, Uttarakhand
New Global Member Schools for 2011 At the board meeting in March the schools listed below were provisionally accepted as global members. Their membership is to be ratified at the AGM which is being held in October 2011. Americas Region St Andrew's School, Florida and the The Cate School, Carpinteria in California both in the USA.
South Asia and Gulf Region Sanskaar Valley School, Bhopal and Mayo Girl's School, Ajmer, both in India.
St Andrew's School, Boca Raton, Florida
Sanskaar Valley School, Bhopal
The Cate School, Carpinteria
Mayo College Girl’s School, Ajmer
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Australasia and SE Asia Region The Regent's School, Bangkok.
The Regent’s School, Bangkok
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE NEWS
2012 AFRICA
Reaching Beyond Our Limits International Conference 2011 Wellington College are proud to be hosting the Round Square International conference this year.
The 2012 Round Square International Conferences will be hosted by Brookhouse School in Nairobi, Kenya (2-8 April) and Penryn College in Nelspruit, South Africa (26 Sept –2nd Oct). Plans are well underway for the April conference with key activities including a Massi market carnival evening; safari and game drives, white water rafting and a camel safari. Like Brookhouse the Penryn Conference will be leaning towards environmental issues. Delegates will get to experience an African market, they will go into the Kruger National Park and have the opportunity of spotting the Big Five of the animal kingdom. There will also be the opportunity to visit the Jane Goodall Chimp sanctuary. Brookhouse and Penryn are still in the process of finalising the programmes and speakers but delegates can be assured both conferences will be a truly unforgettable African experience.
Future Conferences The Americas region will be hosting the conference in 2013.
The theme of the conference is ‘Reaching Beyond Our Limits’ and the aim is to give everyone the opportunity to be challenged and step outside their comfort zone. This will be achieved through adventure and service days as well as the pre and post conference tours. Wellington College want to celebrate the cultural diversity of the conference through dance and will be holding a “Dancing Beyond Our Culture‟ evening. As part of the evening they are looking for six school delegations to provide a cultural dance from their region.
“The Conference will be a truly ‘British’ experience and one that we hope you will embrace and enjoy” Delegates are invited to take part in the Wellington Race. This is a long standing tradition at Wellington and involves a 2.5 mile (4km) race around the college grounds including a run up ‘Killer Hill’ and a finish that will take you through ‘Swan Lake’. This is a sponsored event and all money raised will be donated to the Prince Alexander Trust.
Asia and the Gulf Region will be hosting the 2014 conference.
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Wellington College, England
Another exciting part of the conference is the Adventure Days. There are four options to choose from depending on how adventurous you are feeling. These include battling through mud and scaling the walls at the nearby Sandhurst assault course to rather more sedentary day visiting Royal Windsor to see the home of the reigning monarch HRH Queen Elizabeth II and enjoying a traditional cream tea by the River Thames. Visit the conference website for more details. www.rsc2011.org.uk/adventure-day Visit the conference website for all the details as it is being updated regularly. Wellington College Crowthorne Berkshire RG45 7PU England
17 – 23 October 2011 www.rsc2011.org.uk
GENERAL INFORMATION
New Faces join Round Square Several new appointments were made at the end of 2010 and the new members of staff have now settled into their new roles. Heather Thompson is working parttime with Liz Gray on RSIS Projects and has made a huge contribution by taking over all the administration of student and adult applications for the RSIS Projects. Heather has been responsible for the research and set up of the new RSIS Cambodia Project taking place in December. The Marketing and Advancement Assistant Suzanne Bookless joined in January on a part time basis. Suzanne has completed a review of the Round Square website and many of the findings are recommendations are now been implemented to make improvements to the Round Square web site. She has also spent some time trawling through the websites of the Global and Regional members to see how Round Square is being represented and asking members to either update or amend their sites to make the branding consistent.
Jane Howison took on the full time position of Business Manager in January. Due to Jane being absence for a couple of months Julie Driver is taking on some of Jane’s work. Julie has been with Round Square since 2009 and works as the bookkeeper one day a week keeping the accounts up-to -date, making payments and raising invoices. In addition to her Round Square work she works for Medway Council as a Field Officer for the DofE (formerly Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme). She also works for a charity TillSkills which supports long term unemployed people and she is a leader for Girl Guiding UK. Angela Dawson also joined around the same time and is supporting the secretarial needs of the Executive Director, Brian Dawson for two mornings a week.
Heather Thompson
Suzanne Bookless
Julie Driver
Angela Dawson
Editor: Suzanne Bookless Advancement & Marketing Assistant
Round Square News
Round Square, PO Box 4371 Bath, BA1 0JD, U.K.
The newsletter will be published four times a year
Tel: +44 (0) 1225 320 854 Fax: +44 (0) 1225 320 880 E-mail: admark@roundsquare.org www.roundsquare.org
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