If you haven’t already heard, the Year 6’s have gone to Canberra in week 5 and had the best time of their life. They all went to a science museum called ‘Questacon’ and majority of them say it was the best thing throughout the trip. Questacon was soo big and had on of the best gift shops. There was a gravity slide that made you feel like you were falling in zero-gravity. The earthquake house and a few others were some famous attractions. Overall, it was great fun and we all enjoyed it.
By Millar and Aarav
Arboretum
The national arboretum is a Zoo for trees, which sounds boring but with the inclusion of a treasure hunt (orienteering) and kite making it was lots of fun. Some people were good at flying the kites and others did better at the treasure hunt. The playground at the arboretum was very interesting because it had lots of tiny areas that were filled with interactive items. My personal favourite was the bongo tent.
By Raj
Cycling
Cycling around Lake Burley-Griffin was an amazing experience. Even though many people had a couple of accidents and crashes, we still had fun going around the beautiful city of Canberra. Our friendly instructors helped us immensely to improve our cycling skills, and they didn’t need to be asked twice to tell us more about Canberra. Overall, it was an experience for the ages, and we loved every moment of it. It was a blast. Just before we finished our bus driver joined on his mountain bike. Overall, it was a great experience one that I am sure everyone will cherish and remember.
By Rhitvik and Aaroha
Museum
At the museum in Canberra, we did a treasure hunt and we had to find an object that matches the word we got from a lucky dip from our tour guide in groups of 2-3. It was a great experience. We also learned about the Ngunnawal people the traditional owners of the lands we were on in Canberra.
By Sienna and Sophia
Canberra Park
Whilst in Canberra, we stayed at ‘Canberra Park’. Our accommodation was huge with many buildings, camping grounds & grass fields to fill the land up. Our building consisted of many dormitories. The dormitories had amazing layout that kept us feeling comfortable during our stay. The Homestead was where we ate our delicious meals which included chao mien & butter chicken, we also got dessert each night, such as ice cream cakes and eclairs! After dinner we had so many fun activities including movie nights & games nights. There was so much greenery and life there and the landscape was beautiful. I would definitely go there again!
By Kiana
Galleries
While in Canberra, we went to two art galleries. One of them was the National Portrait Gallery, where we looked at all different types of portraits, and we also got to draw portraits of our peers and teachers. We also went to the National Gallery of Australia on another day, where we got a 90-minute tour and art lesson. At this attraction, we saw all sorts of interesting art works. Even before we went inside, we had already seen a massive sphere/ball just floating in the air, and inside we saw a mysterious painting that had no description of what the painting was, so we had to use our imagination to describe what we thought the painting was, and after we had to make a poem about the painting.
Parliament House
We started off by visiting the old Parliament House, which is also known as the Constitutional Museum and Reclamation by Parliament. When we visited the old Parliament House, we went to a program called mOAD, which stands for “Museum of Australian Democracy”. It taught us about how to vote when we’re 18 and it taught us about Australian Democracy. On the Friday (our last day in the nation’s capital), we arrived at the new Parliament House. It’s where all the ministers, assistant ministers, and the Prime Minister work. We saw the House of Representatives and the Senate. We also learnt that there is a Speaker for the House of Representatives and a President for the Senate. Yesterday, we met Mrs. Louise Miller-Frost, the federal member for Boothby, who paid us a special visit to our own school as parliament was not ‘sitting’ while we were in Canberra.
Australian Institute of Sport (AIS)
At the AIS, we had an hour long tour with some athletes leading us around. The first bit of the tour involved us going into a room called the Sportex. In this room, we got to play some interactive and online games. There was a mini basketball court where 5 people were allowed to go in and have a short game. There was also a rowing machine, bike, skiing game, soccer, rugby, as well as football goal kicking games. There was a pull up bar to see how long you can hang on for. The next bit of the tour saw our tour guides take us to the volleyball court, swimming pool, gym, and the gymnastics space. Luckily, we got to see some gymnasts train (even a current Olympian!) and get to learn about all the stadiums. At the end of our tour, we got to go in the gift shop where many of us bought souvenirs.
As you can see above, 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 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 contributed funding of $90 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program towards those costs. The rebate was paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion. We are looking forward to taking our current Year 5 students to Canberra next year as part of their Year 6 education – it truly is an amazing trip!
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