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SOTA Canberra 5-day Camp
Posted on May 24, 2023
Students from our school have recently undertaken an education tour of the national capital. Students were given the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programs with a focus on Australia’s history, culture, heritage, and democracy.
The following is a recount from a student who attended the Canberra camp;
On Tuesday the years 5, 6 & 7 students embarked on a tour of MoAD, the Museum of Australian Democracy (located at Old Parliament House) for an hour with their teachers. The tour started with a talk about the museum's rules. Afterwards the students paired up to play an interactive game/ hunt where they had to answer questions about democracy or past prime ministers. When they answered the questions, they moved on to the next screen somewhere around the room. When time ended, everyone sat down to talk about publicity banners on the wall and what they thought they meant. After the talk, the students followed their tour guide through the 100-year-old entrance made of beautiful marble to the Senate (the red room). Everyone was seated in comfy maroon-coloured chairs where the old Government and Opposition parties used to sit. The students listened to the talk about the Senate and answered questions before the tour ended and gave a big thank you to the guide. I loved MOAD! It was really cool how some places inside are still kept in a particular place in time and I love the beauty of the place.
One of my favourite parts of the Canberra trip was visiting Parliament House. At the start we saw the LEGO Parliament House, which was really cool! They gave us frozen yogurts to eat until our lovely tour guide arrived. First she took us to the House of Representatives, where the representatives think up new laws and ideas. The House of Reps is also commonly known as the Green Room. After that we had a short walk to the Senate, where the senators decide whether the laws and ideas should go ahead. The Senate is also commonly known as the Red Room. Our visit ended with a short role play. I enjoyed this visit because I love learning about how our country is run.
On Thursday the 4th of May, SOTA year 5,6 and 7 classes went to visit Questacon, an educational science place in Canberra. We travelled to Questacon to learn, explore and play with science. Questacon had many interactive games and displays to help kids and adults use science in fun ways. Questacon also has a gift shop that is filled with lots of fun toys. I enjoyed Questacon because I learnt about natural disasters.
On Friday the 5th of May, SOTA students and teachers visited the Australian Mint which is located in Canberra. Our school visited the Mint to learn and see how Australian coins are made; we also learnt lots about the history of Australian coins. My friends and I found out that there are three robots that work in the factory. Their names are Robbie, Titan and Penny and they each have different jobs to do around the factory. I found out that 32 million coins are made per day at the Mint. I enjoyed visiting the Mint because it was interesting to see how and where all the Australian coins are made everyday!
When SOTA travelled to the Australian War Memorial on Friday 5th of May, we explored multiple areas of information on past wars Australia has been involved in. The tour guide told us all about famous Australian war heroes that earned the Victorian Cross during the two World Wars. We explored a range of different areas, exhibits and memorials around the museum. We got to see real war planes that had been restored and saw dioramas of ships, cars and famous war battles. My favourite part of the visit was seeing the Iroquois helicopter on display in the Vietnam war gallery.
My favourite thing about the Canberra trip was the Australian War Memorial. It was so interesting looking at all the names of the fallen soldiers. We all found surnames of soldiers who could have been our ancestors or maybe related to us. Looking at the artefacts was really interesting but also really sad to think of all the brave things the soldiers did.
The thing that I enjoyed most about going to Canberra was seeing my friends and going to all the excursions with them. One of my favourite excursions was going to the Questacon because of all their fun activities. There were so many cool things you could see like these funny mirrors that distort your reflection, making you very short or tall. Canberra was really fun because we got to go on so many excursions.
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The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion the Australian Government is contributing funding between $80 and $300 per student (dependant on location) under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program towards those costs. The rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion.