FIFTH 24 HOURS (29th to 30th SEPT)

If you are reading this and thinking, ‘This sounds good but full on’, then you are right – it is! The schedule is jam-packed with guest speakers, presentations, events and activities. But perhaps, for our students, the most important element of a Round Square Conference is simply the opportunity to interact with so many students from so many other countries and cultures. By day two, all of our students had fully overcome any initial nerves and shyness which they may have felt. By day five, the situation of mixing with so many people from so many different backgrounds has simply become ‘normal’.

When better, therefore, to throw a party?

Billed as The Evening Under the Stars, this was most definitely an opportunity for everyone to let their hair down. We were driven by coach into what seemed a remote mountainous area and then had to climb up a steep set of stairs – and there, miraculously at the top, was a large party-venue. Live bands all night, barbecued food under the stars and, at the climax, 200 or so bongos released to the audience for half an hour of inspirational communal drumming. The Round Square has got it all…

Tom Vignoles
Felsted School 
Deputy Head (Co-Curricular)

FOURTH 24 HOURS (28th to 29th SEPT)

Every Saturday morning, approximately 1000 local teachers descend on Penryn School for the Penreach Project. The word ‘local’ is relative here, because in fact teachers will come from as far away as 200 miles for this, often driving through the night to get there.

This ground-breaking and award-winning project involves a Penryn School team taking responsibility for training the generally unqualified teachers who work in schools in deprived South African townships. In fact, the number of teachers touched by this project is nearer 2000, with different teachers attending in different weeks, and the number of children who indirectly benefit as a result is incalculable. All part of the long slow post-Apartheid drive towards genuine equality.

The night before we were treated to a superbly professional dance show, performed by the OWLAG dancers. OWLAG is an acronym for the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, founded by Oprah after a visit to South Africa around ten years ago, with the specific mission of educating talented but disadvantaged girls from the local township. Boy, were they talented!

With OWLAG being officially inducted into the Round Square the same evening, rumours abounded that Oprah herself would be appearing as our guest speaker, therefore, it was initially something of an anticlimax to find that our speaker was a humble park ranger and photographer called Kim Wolhuter. We need not have been disappointed! Kim, it turns out, is a quite remarkable man who has studied animal behaviour to such a degree that he can now romp with wild leopards and hyenas. He never carries a firearm: “If I’m stupid enough to push the boundaries too far in the quest for a better photograph, an animal does not deserve to die as a result.”

It turned out the Oprah rumour was not entirely false though! The next morning, 1000 local teachers in the Penreach Project received a live motivational talk from the lady herself via Skype. If nothing else, it will be life-changing for these people to realise that someone so famous thinks they are important.

For more information, check out  http://www.penreach.org.za

Tom Vignoles
Felsted School 
Deputy Head (Co-Curricular)

THIRD 24 HOURS (27th to 28th SEPT)

SO, EVERYONE, WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR BEST EXPERIENCE OF THE CONFERENCE SO FAR?

IZZY: Today's community service day at the primary school in the townships was the best day of my life so far because the children were so happy and appreciative - it made me feel so guilty at any complaints I make. Even doing simple activities with them was so special, touching & rewarding, just to see how much they enjoyed it.

The most interesting person I met at the primary school was a 10 year old girl called Ruth, and she showed me round the school, read to me in English and wanted me to read to her as well. She also insisted on buying me some food from a stall outside the school - I have never met anyone like her - she was really happy and inquisitive, and so proud of her school.

SHONA: Also the Community Service with the children today, because I found it a lot of fun and felt like it had inspired me to do things beyond the limit and look at the world differently.

CHLOE: The best thing I've done so far is also the Community Service activity, because I enjoyed working with the children and being able to give back. I found it was a touching experience and unlike anything I've ever experienced before. I feel like I've managed to make people happy, even if it was through doing such a small activity. This experience has made me want to do more activities like this and make more of a difference.

GEN: Helping the children in the school showed me that even though they are poor and don't have much they are way happier with their lives than we are!

TIM: Yes, the community service was definitely the most memorable experience!


OK, SO THERE SEEMS TO BE A COMPLETE CONSENSUS THAT TODAY WAS AN INCREDIBLY SPECIAL DAY THAT YOU WILL ALL REMEMBER CLEARLY FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIVES. BUT I GUESS IT ALSO MADE YOU RISE TO A HIGH LEVEL OF PERSONAL CHALLENGE. WHAT HAS BEEN THE MOST CHALLENGING EXPERIENCE OF THE CONFERENCE SO FAR FOR YOU, AND WHY?

SHONA: The most challenging thing has been getting out of my school group comfort zone and doing new things and meeting new people.

IZZY: Yes, at first I felt really out of my comfort zone to go up and talk to other delegates, so I found that quite challenging, but it has got so much easier with everyone being so welcoming.

CHLOE: For me the most challenging experience has been the 'Jump' motivational activities becaues they made me come out and talk to a large number of people I might not have spoken to otherwise and forced me to be more confident.

GEN: For me, it was being honest to myself in the 'Jump' session last night, because I realised some stuff about myself I didn't know and I found out stuff from other people that made me really sad.

SO IT SEEMS FOR YOU GIRLS, A MAJOR CHALLENGE HAS BEEN TO INTERACT SOCIALLY IN WAYS YOU ARE NOT USED TO, BUT AMAZING TO SEE HOW YOU'VE ALL GROWN IN CONFIDENCE IN THE LAST TWO DAYS! BOYS, HAS THE SOCIAL SIDE ALSO BEEN A CHALLENGE FOR YOU?

TIM: No, not really, for me painting the T-Shirts was the biggest challenge.

Tom VignolesFelsted School 
Deputy Head (Co-Curricular)

SECOND 24 HOURS (26th to 27th September)

After more than 24 hours travelling, any normal and sane person just wants to have a shower and go to bed. But it seems Round Square Conference delegates are made of sterner stuff and after a quick hour or so to freshen up (during which the three highlights were a shower, a cup of tea and being charged at by a high speed ostrich), it's straight into the welcome dinner. Dodgy handshakes and bad jokes abound - but by the end of it, everyone is made to feel that they are with people they have known all of their lives. Then it's straight into the Community Hall for a music and drama extravaganza on the history of South Africa. Do these people never sleep?

Evidence that the answer must be no:
- The fact that the schedule starts at 7am every single day.
- The fact that the schedule ends well after 9pm every single day.
- The large ants nest that had appeared in TJV's bed by the time he finally got there, making sleep a virtual impossibility!

But it's worth it. After some particularly impressive flag-waving by Ben in the opening ceremony, it's time for the usual round of speeches, from Brian Dawson, the Executive Director of the Round Square, from the Head of Penryn, from His Majesty King Constantine of Greece - and from a young bloke you won't yet have heard of called Buhle Dlamini, who spoke to us about the concept of ‘family’ in Africa.

Google Buhle Dlamani. No, seriously - google him now. His own story is quite remarkable, having shown unbelievable determination to overcome extreme poverty and the death of both his parents from AIDS/HIV, on the way to becoming the major success he is today.  If you were going to invite a guest speaker to a student conference, there is probably no-one in the world who would do a better job in motivating and inspiring young leaders. In an unhappier time, I see him as someone who would have been a leading light of the fight against the South African apartheid regime. Today, he is the clearest evidence imaginable of why that regime simply had to fall. Future president? I wouldn't bet against it...

Ben flying the Felsted flag



Primary School students receive their end of term reports



Sunset on the Lowveld


Tom Vignoles
Felsted School 
Deputy Head (Co-Curricular)

FIRST 24 HOURS (25th to 26th September)

Day one and six excited Felsted students and two teachers assemble at the armoury carpark - and the minibus drives away five minutes early! Almost unheard of - but it's not everyday that Felsted students have the opportunity to travel to South Africa to represent their school in an international student conference. The sense of excitement is tangible.

The journey to the airport proceeds without a hitch (even the M25 is in a good mood today!) with the only minor difficulty so far being the necessity of checking in the Felsted flagpole as excess baggage.

In the air, and a short hop and a Danish pastry sees us in Frankfurt, where we have the opportunity to buy pizza and relax before the ten hour overnight flight to Johannesburg.

The plane leaves on time and hooray, it's one of the ones with a full personal all singing all dancing touchscreen i-pod/DVD/watching-by-camera-out-of-the-front-of-the-plane facility. Even the food is good. The company is good. The view is good (till it gets dark). Life is good!

A bleary-eyed landing in Johannesburg and a long passport queue and there we all are - and there's all of our luggage, and ... hey, wait a minute, what's happened to the Felsted flagpole? Has it, perchance, decided on an extended holiday in Frankfurt?! Half an hour later and it still hasn't appeared and we decide that boarding our bus for the four hour journey to Penryn School is more important than trying to track down an errant and rather irritating piece of wood - and off we go.

En route, we arrive at a roadhouse for lunch and whilst the rest of us are queueing for cheeseburgers, Tim advises us loudly that the gents toilet facilities really must be investigated! Curious, and expecting some sort of substandard, developing world, hole in the ground facility, the author of this blog entry decides to check it out. So there, on the wall, as usual are perfectly normal urinals. So what's different? Well, the wall is simply a window ... and right there on the other side of the glass ... rhino ... buffalo ... ostrich!


Tom Vignoles
Felsted School 
Deputy Head (Co-Curricular)