Recently our Year 6 students had the opportunity to go on the highly anticipated Canberra Tour from 31 July to 4 August. It was an incredible time of growth and new experiences.
Student Reflections
“When I was at the airport on Monday morning, I thought I was going to miss my family so much and was not going to have so much fun. But I was wrong. Visiting Canberra was a new experience for many people like me. Questacon was my favourite place to visit because of the science experiments, but that’s not it. Questacon is where I faced my fear of heights by going down there 6.7-meter-high slide that is steep. I went up with my friend Charlotte because we both wanted to do it but was terrified. I got to the end and was in shock that I did it and cheered my friend as she came down. Another of my favourite places was the accommodation, Canberra Park. I loved hanging out with my cabin group and doing the trivia at night. At the end of this camp, it was time to go home I hopped on the plane after the experience of Canberra. It was the best camp yet.”
Verity
"I enjoyed every single moment of our Canberra tour. My top 3 places I enjoyed was the Parliament House, Questacon, and the AIS (Australian Institute of Sport). I enjoyed Parliament House because we saw our representative for Bonner, Ross Vasta. Many people were in suits and ties, we saw some people on their devices in the house of representatives. I enjoyed Questacon because we learnt a lot about science like how a tornado and earthquakes occur. Finally, I enjoyed the AIS because I saw famous Olympian displays such as Cathy Freeman. We also saw Olympians in the making for gymnastics. Overall, everything in Canberra was a blast, hopefully the next Year 6’s will enjoy it as much as us."
Isabella
"The Canberra Tour was one of the best experiences in our lives. There were many learning opportunities as well as activities and fun for students. One of the places we went to the Australian Institute of Sport also known as Sportex. It was fun to go there because there was a variety of sports we had never known. As well as that, we saw a gymnast doing one of his many routines on bars. We also saw Anthony Albanese in question time at Parliament House in the House of Representatives. At Parliament House we got to role play what happens in the real House of Representatives. Once again Canberra is an amazing place, and we will never forget the opportunity we got to have."
Amira and Charlotte W
"The Australian War Memorial was a highlight of the Canberra Tour. We had an amazing tour guide who led us through the memorial and shared stories with us all. He guided us through the story of a man who went to war and soon after his brother joined him. Inside there was all sorts of features and models. It was so cool to look at them as we were passing by. When we got outside, we saw the eternal flame and we saw the wall of Poppys and all the names of some of the people who went to war. It was a great experience and by far the best one yet!"
Grace
"Our favourite place in Canberra was High Court. When we went there, we though that everything was compelling. The arguments were powerful and seeing how everything works was a new memory. The architecture of the High Court was elegant and clean. Seeing the barrister stutter showed how weak an argument could be and the intensity he felt. The five judges made us feel inferior. Overall, experiencing the High Court was stupendously phenomenal."
Anna and Trisha
"On days three and five of our Canberra tour, we visited Parliament House, Questacon, and the Royal Australian Mint. On day three, we visited the Parliament House and saw the Senate and the house of representatives. While we were watching people in the House of Representatives, we saw Anthony Albanese, the Prime Minister, and Scott Morrison our old Prime Minister. While we were watching the Senate, we didn’t see people that we knew but still thought it was amazing. After we went to the Lego room, which has a model of Parliament House built by Brickman himself, and had frozen yogurt with Ross Vasta, our MP.
We also visited Questacon in the evening. This was like a giant, amazing, incredible Spark Lab. We started our journey with the gift shop, which had some awesome souvenirs. Next to the gift shop is a robot named Robo Q. He dances and warns of danger. The ramps leading up to the first room are tall and they twist all over the place. There is Caged Lightning, an earthquake simulator, and a giant moon. In one of the rooms, there is the enormous Freefall slide. It is 6.3 meters tall, and as you hang of the edge you can see everyone waiting below. As you drop it feels like freefalling through the air for a few seconds. On Friday we went to the Royal Australian mint. There were some incredible old coins that we all oved learning about the history of them. We were amazed about some of the facts that we learned like how they print 32 million coins per day. There was a gift shop there where we had access to print our own coins and buy some amazing gifts to share with our family when we got home. Overall Canberra is an amazing place to take a grade because it has some amazing history. We loved going."
Eliza and Ruby
"I really enjoyed Canberra because there were many new places to see. It was the best weeklong trip I have ever done. Some of the highlights we visited were the Parliament House, Questacon, CSIRO, AIS, and the Australian War Memorial. My three favourites for this trip were Parliament House, Questacon, and the War Memorial. Inside the Parliament House were cool paintings of members that were a part of Parliament. We also saw a real live session in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Questacon had a gift shop, and we were allowed to buy something and explore the amazing place. There was this funny robot that had different modes and could sing. There was a big slide, but I didn’t go on it. The War Memorial had stuff from WW1 and WW2. There were names of soldiers that had fought in the past and sacrificed themselves for us. There was a small room with an actual grave. The crew never found out about his name. So, they buried him in that grave."
Kavish
