The timing was perfect.
On the day of the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in South Korea last Friday, 19 school ambassadors at Farm Cove Intermediate were ceremoniously honoured for their support with pastoral care provided to students from South Korea.
It was a celebration of leaders as role models.
School ambassadors and councillors were acknowledged for reaching out to the South Korean students with a badge and colourful lei representing different nationalities.
Encouraging values of cultural intelligence, the school ambassadors at Farm Cove Intermediate work though out the year supporting international and ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) students.
Farm Cove Intermediate has around 18 Korean students visiting from Cheongju Girls High School and Jusung Middle School for three weeks. The school also has a handful of Korean home stay students on the school roll.
Some of the young leaders who take pride in their role and wear their badge like an Olympic gold, accompanied the visiting Korean students for a tour of the Sky Tower while another lot of student leaders will be accompanying them to the Howick Historical Village and the Rotary Walkway.
Year 8 student Hazel Tautua who visited South Korea on a school trip last year, says that she enjoys making new friends and getting to know the Korean way of life “though they drive on the other side of the road and their food is quite different,” she says.
The exchange that helps develop globally engaged citizens of tomorrow, has 12-year-old Jaedon Burgess saying he keeps a close eye on the Korean students. “We are there to support them and help them find their way around school.”
Lead teacher International and ESOL Department Diane Scarrow says that the school has a wide range of ethnicities and “this gives our students a cultural understanding as they closely interact with students from other cultures. It adds to the richness and vibrancy of our school.”
Having lived a year in Japan, she brings empathy to the role that is all about sharing and caring.
Korean student Joseph Lee says that the point of difference between his school and the Farm Cove Intermediate is that “this school is not strict – and much more relaxed.”
