Finding Their Place
Year 6 students studying the concept of belonging have been peeling back the layers of what it means to be human in all its forms.
Their learning took the form of an excursion and two-day internal conference, both serving as ‘provocations’ as they prepare for their Year 6 2025 International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme Exhibition and its theme: 'A sense of belonging gives us purpose in our communities’.
The excursion took the girls to Western Sydney University’s Parramatta campus for Refugee in My Neighbourhood, an immersive experience that placed them in the shoes of refugees and asylum seekers. Guided by people with lived experience, the students gained firsthand insight into the challenges of displacement and the courage required to rebuild belonging in a new country.
Through keynote speeches and intimate workshops, the conference held in the Wenona Junior School, then allowed the girls to explore their three lines of inquiry: what it means to be human, how humans adapt to change, and how we might think beyond ourselves.
SBS Board Director, Vic Alhadeff OAM, opened proceedings with a keynote that drew from his extraordinary journey from Zimbabwe to Greece to South Africa to Ä¢¹½´«Ã½. Born to parents from Rhodes Island, Greece, but raised in Zimbabwe, Alhadeff's career as a journalist has taken him to the world's frontlines – reporting from Moscow on the fall of the Soviet Union, from East Berlin on the collapse of the Berlin Wall, and from South Africa during its historic first free elections.
For Year 6 students grappling with questions of identity and belonging, his message was clear: our experiences of displacement and adaptation can become our greatest strengths in building inclusive communities.
The following day, Olympic water polo player Holly Young shared her own story of finding belonging through sport. Young, who competed in the recent Paris Olympics where the Aussie Stingers won silver, spoke about the tight-knit community that forms around shared goals and mutual support. Her journey from a 13-year-old trying out a new sport to representing Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ on the world's biggest stage illustrated how belonging isn't just about where we come from, but what we choose to commit ourselves to.
Between keynotes, students moved through workshops designed to deepen their understanding of community and connection. They heard from a Paralympian about overcoming challenges, learned about sound healing and breathwork as tools for inner peace, and engaged with an immigration lawyer about the complexities of legal belonging. Wenona speakers included School Archivist, Ms Elizabeth Hartnell, a Senior School student, and staff members from the ICT and boarding departments, each offering different perspectives on what it means to find your place.
All these experiences will allow the girls to prepare research on their own experiences of belonging and the understanding that it is something we need to work to create, nurture and extend to others.