Principal’s Message
Dear Parents, Staff, Students and Friends of WIS,
Running, sailing, teaching sewing, cooking, painting, drumming, singing, exploring, acting, designing, making, weight lifting, kick boxing, swimming, golfing, public speaking, gardening, volunteering, visiting, healthy-eating, exercising, budgeting. I would like to congratulate all students for their engagement in Horizons Week. The range and quality of activities that students have been involved with is broad to say the least. It was great to see students who were in Hong Kong spend a length of time focused on a single activity and learn a new skill.
The overseas visits and trips were a mixture of adventure, service and it is not over dramatic to say life changing for many. I wanted to share some of the reflections with you directly:
“First and foremost, I learned about how the simple things in life can make you happy. For example, in the absence or lack of digital devices and the world of social media, I found myself focusing more on interacting with the locals, enjoying time with my friends and giving it my all during the strenuous service work. One of the challenges I faced was taking on the responsibility of being a responsible student leader; it requires an abundance of initiative, endless amount of self- organization but most of all: compassion for the younger students in my home-stay.” – Year 12 Student
“What an exciting week we had with the students of West Island School for their Horizons Week! We’d like to thank all of you for your hard work and professionalism throughout the week, the work you created was truly impressive and the final performance of Matilda for Kennedy Primary School students was a hit!” Faust – A Play in a Week
“I completely immersed myself in a totally different environment, to try things I have never thought of doing. I also learned to be compassionate towards individuals from completely different social backgrounds. I recall the time where I was playing with the students, their smiles were truly something I will never forget. This Horizon Week also allowed me to escape from digital devices, Wi-Fi and enabled me to admire the beauty of everything around me.” – Year 11 Student
“This trip allowed me to view things in ways I have never seen them before, for instance, what life is like in Cambodia in reference to the rural regions. I learned many things like what the Khmer Rouge genocide is and what was the reasoning behind the slaughter, which really opened my eye to see how their lives have drastically changed and what they had to cope with, compared to me in terms of stress and difficulty (which frankly is nothing in comparison to theirs). I really enjoyed the inspiring talk elegantly executed by the genocide prison child survivor which was translated incredibly well. It really was a unique and inspiring experience and definitely was the highlight for me of the trip. Furthermore, although I found the house building both challenging and tiring, I believe it gave me access to a variety of skills; communication, cooperation, risk-taking, resilience, self-motivation, self-confidence and, management.” – Year 11 Student
As always, we will complete our evaluation with students and parents (including the use of Remind) and develop our programme further for next year. Mrs Craig is to be commended for leading on this and it goes without saying, a heartfelt thanks to the dedication and time from our staff.
Finally, whilst school representatives took a wreath to Central last Sunday to represent our respect for past and current members of the armed forces worldwide, the larger school population could not be involved due to Horizons Week. We will commemorate the occasion as a community during Anzac Day in April 2017.
Have a restful weekend,
Christopher Sammons
Principal
