Gazette January 2020
74
COMMUNIT Y
Helping Our Rural Families
Drought Support Trip 2019 In November 2019, a contingency of King’s staff and students travelled out to regional New South Wales as a show of support for communities struggling with the devastating effects of the drought.
The purpose of the trip was three-fold: 1 Our students would have the opportunity to contribute to communities doing it tough, whilst learning the importance and value of living a life in service of others 2 F or our students to gain a deeper understanding of the drought and how it impacts local communities 3 T o provide a small measure of financial support for regional towns by supporting local businesses
A joint Boys to Men and Service Learning initiative, the Drought Support trip aimed to show support for our regional communities that are so important in the Australian community and especially important to us here at King’s. On Monday, 18 November ten Year 10 boys and one Year 6 boy under the care of Mr Papandreas, Mr Vassallo and Mr Chadwick set out for Coonamble and Walgett. These students spent a day at St Brigid’s Catholic Primary School and another day at St Joseph’s College where the boys went into Kindergarten to Year 3 classrooms helping the students with reading and mathematics. Our young Kingsmen did their School proud, showing a great deal of care and interest in the lives of the primary students, whilst helping them develop important literacy and numeracy skills. We provided a BBQ for the students and staff at both schools using all locally sourced produce to help support their local towns. Lunch was followed by an afternoon of sports activities for the Year 4 to 6 students run by our Kingsmen. A tremendous amount of leadership was shown by our young men running basketball, cricket, touch football and soccer initiatives. The staff at these schools were greatly appreciative of the work of our students and the positive role models that they proved to be in a school staff with nearly no male teachers. It was wonderful to see the boys serving local communities going through such tough times.
Whilst at these schools, the boys had the opportunity to make a truly positive impact on younger students and their school communities. It was an eye-opening experience for our boys who learned how fortunate they are to be Kingsmen. We would like to take this opportunity to thank both St Brigid’s and St Joseph’s for welcoming us into their schools and allowing us the opportunity to work with their amazing students. We were also very warmly welcomed into the family homes of four King’s and Tudor House families. Fergus and Lorna Lefebvre, Andrew and Sue Wickham, Cameron and Camilla Rowntree and George and Kirsty Witts played host to us and were so incredibly generous in showing the boys around their properties and sharing their experiences and insight around the drought and its impacts. Each visit provided a unique perspective of life on the land and the impact that the drought is having not just on farming and agriculture, but on families, small businesses, entire communities and Australia more broadly. Whilst at the Witts’ family farm, Jack (Year 11, Baker Hake) showed the boys what life on the land was like by putting them to work feeding sheep, helping with fencing and familiarising them around the shearing shed. We cannot be more thankful for the hospitality of these families and the wonderful dinners they prepared for us in their homes. Even in the hardship of drought, the selfless nature and overwhelming generosity of these families was inspiring for both the staff and students. It is no wonder King’s has many wonderful young men in its community, they come from good stock – caring and selfless families. This was the first Boys to Men Service Learning trip and was well received by students, staff, families and the local communities. We look forward to making these types of trips a core part of Boys to Men moving forward and to further expanding our support of regional communities.
Dean Papandreas Boys to Men Coordinator
Have you been inspired by our students? Engage King’s, the Association of Parents, Friends, Societies and Clubs of The King’s School would now like to extend this opportunity to families within the King’s community. Expressions of Interest are now invited from families who would like to join us for a weekend in Dunedoo from Friday, 27 to Sunday, 29 March 2020. The aim of this weekend is to bring the community together in support of our regional families. Buses will depart on Friday for a full weekend of activities, including a game of cricket in the bush and time to support the local businesses of Dundeoo. A very special part of our weekend will be visits to a King’s family property, providing the opportunity to roll-up your sleeves and experience first-hand life in the bush. Are you interested? We would love you to join us and encourage you to bring the family. To express your interest to join us in Dunedoo or for further information, please email Kate Bell in Community Relations at kbell@kings.edu.au
