Stage two are inquiring into a unit of work from the Transdisciplinary Theme: Where we are in place and time. They are learning through the concepts of function, causation and perspective to help them understand that ‘Human migration is a response to challenges, risks and opportunities and affects communities’.

To provoke the boys thinking and engage them in their learning they were visited by two parents from the school community guest speakers ‘Sandy Tran and Viet Dang’. Sandy and Viet shared their incredible stories of migrating to Australia from Vietnam when they were only very young children. 30 of the boys were asked to volunteer to sit on a mat which was the size of the boat that Viet travelled on when he left his country in the middle of the night. They were very intrigued to learn about the process a refugee goes through in order to be able to live safely in another country. This encouraged all of the boys to be both reflective and open-minded in order to show empathy for the experiences others’ have been through.

They are continuing to learn about Australian Migration over time, acknowledging the Aboriginal perspectives and the British Colonisation. The boys are beginning to find out about the different reasons people migrate including ‘The Free settlers’, ‘Post-War Europeans’ and ‘Migrants and Refugees’.

Angela Tonkin and Shayne Pollard – Stage 2 Teachers