Lucy Dalleywater, Director of Activities
Year 9 Stepping Forward as Global Citizens
Global Forum is a three-day residential program for our Year 9 students, designed to deepen their awareness of their potential to contribute and lead as citizens in both their local and global communities. This year’s program was filled with inspiring presentations, hands-on service, and student-led curriculum planning, all underpinned by a strong sense of collaboration and purpose.
The program began with keynote sessions from leaders such as Annabelle Chauncy, CEO of School for Life, and Julia Symons, Chief Impact Officer at Athletes for Hope, accompanied by Olympic athlete, Dominique du Toit.
Through Athletes for Hope, students completed a strengths-based assessment to identify how they could best serve their communities, creating their own Athlete Impact Plans. This reflective process carried throughout the program, helping them turn their experiences into tangible action.
Service learning was at the heart of the experience. Through an immersion in OzHarvest’s Headquarters in Alexandria, Year 9 deepened their understanding of food sustainability and insecurity, and were lucky to meet the founder and CEO of OzHarvest, Ronni Kahn, whose message that your actions define what Australia looks like in the future resonated strongly. This was followed by hands-on cooking at Our Big Kitchen, where students prepared over 150 meals for people experiencing homelessness, along with additional meals for a women’s domestic violence shelter that had to relocate urgently to protect its residents.
A highlight was the curriculum planning session, where students were asked to imagine the future of learning. They worked in teams to create 12 actionable curriculum projects that could be embedded from 2026. Proposals included a boarding wellbeing program, expanded service learning opportunities, cross-curricular units supporting community projects, and alumni-led leadership mentoring. These ideas were presented to Geoff Marsh and Sarah Tynan on the final night, demonstrating both vision and practicality.
External facilitators remarked on the energy, teamwork, and commitment the students displayed, with one saying, “If these students are the future, then we are in good hands.”
By the end of the three days, students had exceeded even their own expectations of what they could achieve, showing that with initiative, collaboration, and reflection, their potential to lead and contribute is limitless.