20 Nayland senior school students and two of us teachers recently travelled to Wellington to attend the Senior School Big Ideas & Philosophy Conference and visit Victoria University.

There we joined up with the other local colleges, ending up with a grand total of 104 staff and students from throughout the region.  This trip was organised collaboratively by staff from the five colleges and was a great opportunity for like-minded young people to spend time together outside of the classroom.

We all stayed at the very well-appointed International Youth Hostel and travelled together to a myriad of activities over three days. On Sunday afternoon, some students chose to visit the Weta Workshop, some went to Te Papa, some headed off to the Beehive, while others braved the wind and rain for a spot of shopping and Wellington café culture.

Monday morning saw us head off to a series of three lectures with professors from the Economics, Language & Communication, and Astrophysics departments of Victoria University. We also had a tour of the campus and visited Halls of Residence, which provided everyone with a first-hand experience of what it might be like to attend university. One student commented that the tour changed their mindset on attending university in 2020. “Such a great experience, especially the lectures.”

Our final day was spent at Scots College, the hosts for the Senior Philosophy Conference delivered by Academy Conferences speakers from the United Kingdom. Our students, and those from the Lower North Island, were challenged to think big thoughts and to explore mind-bending topics.  These included thinking about 'how do you know what you know and don’t know?' They then jumped feet first into the Politics of Freedom and Tolerance, followed by The Philosophy of Love and Relationships and finished with The Big Debate about whether smart phones should be allowed in the NZ classroom.

The topics were engaging and got everyone thinking; some quietly and some a little more loudly 😊. Below are a couple of reflections from our students:

“It was controversial and counteracted how we tend to view people and cultures. I came away from it with a slightly alternate branch of thought on how I view or approach different cultures in relation to tolerance.”

“It challenged society's lack of tolerance about both left-wing and right-wing debates. Loved it.”

“How does the speaker know what they're talking about, do they really know or do they just strongly believe? It really made me question what I know or think I know and it makes me want to think about and be more careful of what I say and how I say it.”

Mr Crawford and I would like to thank all the students for being excellent ambassadors for Nayland College and making this a great trip. It was wonderful to see how engaged our students were and that they made the most of the opportunities available to them.

Nayland College is looking forward to hosting the Junior Stretch and Challenge day for the Upper South Island on August 14th, again presented by Academy Conferences, UK. More information can be found here:

https://www.academyconferences.com/index.php/gifted-and-talented-students/au-nz-junior-programme