During the first two weeks of Term 4, I was fortunate enough to travel to Nairobi, Kenya with two students and a member of staff, to the Round Square International Conference. 

Round Square is an international network of 230 like-minded schools from across 50 countries. As a group of schools, we connect regularly in many different ways to share experiences, ideals and a common approach to the development of character for our students.

Round Square owes much to the heritage of Kurt Hahn, founder of the two original member schools, Schule Schloss Salem in Germany, with Prince Max of Baden, and Gordonstoun in Scotland. Both schools are committed to equipping youth for leadership and service in a democracy by helping them prepare for life despite hardships, dangers, and emotions of the moment. Many of you may remember Gordonstoun from the Netflix series, The Crown. Unfortunately, not a great experience for our current King.

In 1966, King Constantine of the Hellenes chaired a meeting of the first seven schools that would form the association, later named after the Round Square building at Gordonstoun, where the first conference took place in 1967. Since then, countless students have taken part in conferences, service projects and exchanges and continue to carry the spirit of Round Square with them.

Woodleigh has been a member of Round Square for many years and sends staff and students to the annual conference, wherever it may be hosted around the world. We also send staff and students to specific service projects and also to short term exchanges. Since the pandemic we have had a huge increase in the number of students attending short term exchanges and many students visiting Woodleigh. This year Mr Fraser will be attending a service project in Thailand as a supervising staff member. In previous years Ms Pitcher has also led a service project in Morocco.

As a school that is relatively sheltered from global perspectives and geographic diversity, the Round Square offers us the opportunity to form partnerships with international schools and students in a sustainable and authentic manner. The opportunities for our students to live and attend school overseas, attend conferences and work on service projects are invaluable and we greatly cherish the visiting students who attend Woodleigh as well.

This year Ms Pitcher, two senior students and I visited Kenya for nine days. As part of our visit, we managed to spend time with our partner schools, their students and their coordinators. We were also part of a larger conference comprising over 1500 students and 200 staff from 50 different countries. We were immersed in Kenyan culture, discussed the emergence of the new Africa, and participated in immersion days with a focus on service, democracy and adventure. The students also had the opportunity to stay with a Kenyan family from our host school, Brookhouse Runda Campus.

Each day was packed from 7am until 11pm with experiences, sights and sounds that were truly unique to Kenya, providing ample opportunity to meet new people and form stronger friendships with those we've met before.

For Woodleigh, these relationships are incredibly important in providing authentic international opportunities for our students to develop and understand international mindedness and global perspectives.

I would like to thank Mr Bolch, our Round Square Coordinator for organising our trip and also for the many exchanges he has organised and supported throughout this year. I also thank Kat Blick for her ongoing support of our International Program. Any students or families interested in international exchanges or the Round Square Program should contact Mr Bolch and have a discussion. Next year’s conference will be hosted in Bogota, Columbia. Once again if you are interested, have a chat with Mr Bolch.

DAVID BAKER
Principal