International Students Report The international group at Brighton Grammar School was formed for a number of purposes. As a school community, as we want our boys to feel welcomed and provide them with the best all rounded education we can provide. However it is difficult if English is not your native tongue and and leaving your home country for one with a completely different culture makes it difficult for boys to fit in to mainstream society. Therefore, the goal of our group is to allow the international students of different cultures to feel welcomed and wanted in Australia and our School community. Moreover, we want to build the bridge between the international students and the local students, allowing them to get more involved with the School and get more out of their time here. The international students of Brighton Grammar School had a fantastic year. The boys collaborated together extremely well, all the while mingling with many of the local boys. Considering that many of these boys speak English as a second language, with many coming from countries including China, Japan and France, the boys ensured that they were involved in many different aspects of school life, such as sport and drama, and learnt a lot about the Australian culture. This not only benefitted the international boys of Brighton Grammar School, but also the local boys who had little or no prior knowledge of foreign cultures. Bringing international and local boys together like this allows everyone to feel part of our School – to be more ‘as one’. We began the year with an extremely successful Chinese New Year day with a Yum Cha theme. To celebrate the biggest festival in many of the Asian countries, our School had many activities and decorations all throughout the school. For example, in the spirt of Chinese New Year, every boy was given little red pockets, and the tuck shop was sold many traditional Asian foods, such as dumplings, dim sims and rice noodles. The lucky and prosperous posters and traditional lanterns were hanging throughout the School as the whole School celebrated as one. Spread throughout the school terms, the international students of Brighton Grammar also enjoyed many breakfasts together. With the prefects joining the breakfasts, the international students were able broaden their knowledge of Brighton Grammar and many got to know the students leaders well, further improving their sense of belonging to the School. Furthermore, the international boys continued to build relationships with one another, making lifelong friends along the way. This way, we allowed the boys to feel included throughout the year, making this year a very successful year for BGS’s international student group. Frank Qiu and Matthew Wang, International Student Captains
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