On Friday, 28 July seven students from Nagasaki Minami High School joined Newington for the day. To facilitate the visit, ten Year 11 boys played host for the day escorting our guests to classes and generally ensuring they felt welcome and comfortable.

As Minami is a selective Science school, the focus of their visit was to experience our Science facilities. Following on from a tour of our campus, including an impressive rooftop view across the city, we all headed to the Super Lab to conduct a standard dilution practical task in Chemistry. After morning tea, we went to Physics and investigated the origin of the telescope and tried to build one of our own.

We continued conversations over a hearty lunch of sausages in buns, before our visitors presented a slideshow of the impressive science experiments they have conducted in Japan. Their work included successfully cloning Chrysanthemums and recreating Martian soil to experiment whether we could grow crops there. They also shared with us various aspects of their culture and points of interest in Nagasaki, including an active volcano and Dragon Boat Racing. Before departing they presented us each with a Japanese gift as a memento of their visit.

Overall, the day was a great success and both parties learnt much about Science and each other’s culture.  We hope this is the beginning of an ongoing relationship with Nagasaki Minami High School.

Jock Ferguson (11/KL) and Jarrah McEvoy (11/FL)