Round Square
Dainfern College has been a regional member of Round Square since 2009. Mr Stuart West was involved with Round Square in Cape Town and was keen to expose the Dainfern College learners to the incredible opportunities it offered. He therefore initiated the philosophy and the impetus to apply.
What is Round Square?
“Round Square is a worldwide association of more than 80 schools on five continents that share unique and ambitious goals. Learners attending Round Square schools make strong commitments beyond academic excellence towards personal development and responsibility. This is achieved by participating in conferences, community service, work projects, exchange programmes and adventuring, which can, and often does, take learners half way around the world.
Round Square schools share an educational philosophy, based on the teachings of Kurt Hahn, which supports the growth of the "whole person". This philosophy is based upon the Round Square "IDEALS": Internationalism, Democracy, Environment, Adventure, Leadership and Service. The common goal is to develop every learner into a whole person by enveloping these ideals through interaction with a diversity of learners from different countries and cultures.” [Source: http://www.roundsquare.org/index.php?id=340 [Downloaded: 8/04/11)]
For more details and lists of membership schools and information on conferences and service projects, please visit http://www.roundsquare.org/.
Round Square at Dainfern College
A very brave first delegation set off to the Stanford Lake Senior Conference and pre-service project at the Appel School in 2009 with Mr West and Mrs Russell. They came back with a great deal of enthusiasm, convinced that this was something with which Dainfern could be associated. Emile Parker (Matric 2009) then established the first Round Square Committee and became the first Round Square (RS) prefect.
In 2010 Emile handed over the baton to Stacey Lee Raath and we attended two conferences that year: Mr Stemmet joined the Junior Conference delegation at Penryn College in Nelspruit and the Senior Conference was held at St George’s Grammar School in Cape Town.
The RS Committee started growing within the College as well, and during September we had our first Adventure Day where 12 members went zip-lining in the Magaliesberg. Three Dainfern students also went on Round Square exchanges to India, Jordan and Kenya during October to December.
With the growing interest in Round Square we appointed two prefects in 2011: Daniel Bresgi as Head of Senior RS and Rory Boone as Head of Junior RS. The Namibian Junior Conference was a great success with three Grade 9s attending the Pre-conference at Dordabis, joined by another three for the main Conference that was split between Windhoek and Swakopmund. The juniors and seniors joined up for an Adventure Day on 21 March 2011 and went river rafting on the Vaal River before the Senior Conference, hosted by St Stithians Girls College during the April holidays.
The first RS Service Project (Service and Environmental clean-up) is currently in the pipeline under the leadership of Cobus de Ridder (Head of External Outreach) and with input from other prefects such as Caitlyn Porter (Head of Internal Outreach) and Brandon Jones, working together with Daniel and Rory.
The next exciting event is that Dainfern College will be hosting the 2012 Junior Round Square Conference in February 2012. This will take a lot of logistical planning as we don’t have boarding houses to accommodate delegates and we will have to host about 120 Grade 9s in private homes.
Dainfern College is proud to be part of Round Square and annually participates in the African Regional conferences as well as student exchanges.
Junior Round Square Conference - Namibia 2011
By Sarah Forbes, Grade 9 2011
In February Dainfern College took six Grade 9 delegates to Namibia on the Junior Round Square Conference. The conference consisted of two components:
- The first component was the Pre-conference: a service-orientated project attended by selected delegates in Dordabis;
- The second was the main Conference, attended by all delegates and held in Swakopmund and Windhoek.
The Pre-conference was attended by Christopher Cutler, Ntombi Falala, Sarah Forbes and Mrs Russell. It was held at a nursery school in an underprivileged town outside Windhoek called Dordabis. We built a new playground, planted trees and had loads of fun engaging with the small children. We all felt a sense of pride in what we had accomplished and in being given the opportunity to make a difference in those children’s lives.
We were then joined by Kayla Boonzaaier, Genna Fertig, David Cho, Mrs Davids and Mr Stemmet for the main Conference which took place in Windhoek and Swakopmund. There we attended discussions and got the opportunity to interact with kids from all over Africa. We also took part in adventure activities such as dune-boarding and sea-kayaking. We ended the week with a fun evening/disco that we shared with all our new friends, including delegates from Namibia and Kenya.
We had the most fantastic experience and would recommend it to all future Grade 9s. Personally, it was one of the most fascinating and insightful trips I have ever been on and it is something I will carry with me forever.
Exchange at Dainfern College
Over the years Dainfern has sent out several exchange students and hosted incoming students from across the world.
In February 2011 we launched our official Exchange Programme where it is our intention to build up long-standing relationships with schools on various continents to facilitate regular exchanges, but also to seek opportunities for broader exchanges and International Service Projects for the Dainfern learners.
Aim
To expose Dainfern College learners to international countries, schools and students in order to become life-long learners by living out our Motto of “A World of Education, An Education for the World”. This will be done by striving to:
- Create opportunities for Dainfern learners to travel and be hosted by international schools;
- Host international students from different countries and cultures;
- Develop long-standing exchange relationships with targeted schools in a variety of countries; and
- Enable Dainfern learners to participate in RSIS (Round Square International Service) Projects and Round Square Conferences.
Exchange partners
Dainfern College exchanges work in conjunction with the following organisations:
Recent exchanges
During 2008 and 2009:
- Rory Boone went to Texas in the USA;
- Tarryn Els went to Germany; and
- Kamogelo Mafokwane went to Argentina.
At the end of 2010:
- Daniel Bresgi to The King’s Academy in Jordan;
- Zoë Hart-Curry to Sanskaar School in Bhopal, India; and
- Dylan Bouchier to Brookehouse School in Nairobi, Kenya.
Incoming exchanges
During March/April 2011 we hosted the following students at Dainfern College:
- Marcello Sottano from Cordoba in Argentina; and
- Sydney Otieno and Natasha van Hoek from Brookehouse School in Kenya.
All three students joined the Grade 10s on the incredible Enyuka Challenge in the Mweni Valley and take home fond memories of conquering the Drakensberg!
Confirmed exchanges
Later this year, at a time still to be confirmed, Paloma Girault will be visiting from Ermitage International School in France and Chloe Connellan will be going there on a reciprocal exchange during November and December 2011.
Kortney Acton, a Canadian Rotary exchange student, will also be spending an entire year at Dainfern College, starting in September 2011.
Pending exchanges
Nine other Grade 10s have applied to go on exchange and they will have their exchange interviews during the first week of term two.
We are also currently in negotiation with some applications for incoming students.
Contact details
Mrs Y. Russell: Head of Round Square
Mr J. Stemmet: Head of Junior Round Square
Mrs C. Davids: Round Square Committee
Mr R. Nicholas: Chase Foundation Coordinator
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Prep School Newsletter - 23 February 2012
