On 22 June, nine Prefects travelled to our Williamstown campus to visit our younger peers, merely expecting to introduce ourselves and talk about the “big school”. When we arrived however, we were met with a mass of smiling faces, excited giggles and hundreds of questions about our lives and our learning journeys, that kept us all busy for the entire afternoon spent in Williamstown. With questions such as, “what has been your learning journey?” and, “how do you demonstrate a growth mindset?” we had to rack our brains for inspiring and engaging answers on the spot, after only preparing to answer questions regarding our favourite colour and the size of the Truganina campus. The children we saw ranged from Prep to Year 3, were some of the most inquisitive young children we as a Prefect cohort had ever met, and we were humbled by the amount of genuine interest these smaller children had in our ‘big, grown up lives’ at the Senior School. This visit was particularly special for many of us, as we ourselves had first started our learning journey at the Williamstown campus in Prep. Indeed, returning to our roots after thirteen years was definitely an emotional and memorable experience for us all.

Seeing all the Junior school kids made us extremely excited for the future of Westbourne as these young minds will undoubtably achieve great things. Browsing through some of their work really showcased their imagination and the ideas they have come up with. For example, a little girl in Year 2 showcased her idea to stop birds from getting into rubbish bins by making the hole on top of bins  smaller so the birds couldn’t access the rubbish.

Overall, the trip was fulfilling and so much fun for both us Prefects and also the Williamstown students. We hope the ‘Willi’ students had just as much fun as we did and learnt a lot about us Prefects and our journey through Westbourne

Cooper Read 12S, Ashleigh Murdoch 12M