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Country City Immersion Experience
This year we launched the KRB Country City Immersion which aims to expand the perspectives of both our boarding and day students and to build stronger ties with our rural and regional communities. The immersion is a means to enhance awareness of the culture and lifestyle of regional Australian areas and the type of work that our country families do and develop leadership skills, character and resilience.
Director of Boarding Anne-Maree Bennett, says her hope is that the offering will cultivate awareness of the lives and work of our country families; "I also hope the immersion experience will continue to enhance our city country connections and give our day students a special opportunity to develop leadership and initiative.”
The Immersion sees city girls spend one semester in boarding. During that semester, they undertake an immersion in a regional area of NSW to experience the culture and history of a NSW country town, spend time on a KRB boarding family’s property to develop an appreciation of the industry of farm life and participate in a local community initiative.
As part of the Immersion, our city families offer a reciprocal experience of city life for a country boarder. This could involve having a boarder stay with the city family for a weekend or part of the holiday period, or taking a boarder to a city event such as a concert, art exhibition or theatre production.
Year 10 student Sophie St John took part in the first Country City Immersion Experience in Semester 1 this year. She said that the experience enabled her to feel part of a community within the KRB community; “It has allowed me to make multiple new friendships, both in my own year group, and with girls from other year groups too. I have really enjoyed the structure and routine offered during the week in boarding. I am involved in lots of co-curricular sports, so the ability for me to focus on my school work, and work collaboratively with my peers during study has helped to lift my academic performance over this semester. The opportunity to be a boarder has broadened my perspective on life and has allowed me to develop new friendships with girls outside my own circle of friends. I was excited to be given the opportunity of a country experience. It was an opportunity to try new things. The country is so different to the city in many aspects. The country is definitely more peaceful and quieter. My experience made me understand the hard work and effort required to work on a farm and the important role that farmers play in Australia’s economy. I would recommend KRB girls join the Country City Immersion Experience. First of all, it's lots of fun but you also gain a better understanding of how things work outside of our everyday life in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. The family that I stayed with, the McLeans, were so generous, helpful and welcoming – they made sure I was comfortable.”
Dimity McLean, who hosted Sophie at her family’s farm thinks it’s very important that people from the city experience the country. "It's special that Sophie gets to see what life was like for me before I started at KRB. The immersion is certainly a different experience!”
For Year 10 student Ava McInerney participating in the immersion experience led her to becoming friends with people whom she had been at school with for three years but had rarely spoken to: “Being in boarding allowed me to get to know others faster, and it has ended up with me feeling like I could talk to them whenever, when that might not have been the case for me six months ago. Being around peers for study times allows collaboration and opportunity to discuss different opinions and viewpoints. This consistent help around me has led me to understand new concepts in my subjects. As a girl from the city, I was excited to see the way boarders live when they go home. I embraced the opportunity to gain a genuine understanding of what happens in farm life through a hands-on experience. The boarding experience also helped me establish a new routine and better study patterns after COVID lockdowns.”
A highlight of boarding for Zara Holt was getting to know some of her friends better: “I enjoyed the activities in boarding and being in an environment where we can make our own fun together. I am looking forward to experiencing country life and genuinely understanding what my country friends’ families do. I’m looking forward to meeting some baby goats and roasting marshmallows over a bonfire. I now realise that the connections and friendships you develop in boarding will last forever, and I will always remember my time in boarding.”
