PUBLISHED 09 October 2022
Almost three years ago, the school was in talks with Round Square to discuss being one of the hosts of a Round Square International Conference. The plans were in place but then Covid hit and dates, arrangements and events all began to change. Around a year ago we had confirmation that the Round Square Conference would be hosted by AKS and 4 other schools, using Oxford Colleges as a home for the first 3 days of the conference and then we would be taking all of the delegates assigned to Pembroke College back to AKS. In total we were joined by 22 schools and colleges from the global Round Square community, some as far as Australia and Canada and some as close as London.
On Monday 19th September Delegates began to arrive from across the globe, our amazing Baraza Leaders form Year 12, 15 students in total shared their time between Heathrow airport where they welcomed delegates to the UK, and Pembroke College where we checked in the delegates and helped them to their rooms. The week got off to a great start and the Baraza Leaders did an amazing job of leading their teams around Oxford, we listened to great speeches and watched fabulous entertainment.
Arriving back to AKS with 221 delegates, there was a festival evening, with amazing food put on by our catering department, ‘the 30 mile menu’, where all food and ingredients have been sourced within 30 miles of the school. We had live entertainment and there was a great energy around the school that lasted through to the Saturday that was our ‘Service Day’. On Friday our students and delegates were given a fantastic opportunity by listening to Sarah Brook, the CEO of Sparkle Malawi, she talked about her upbringing, passion for charity and hopes for the future. All year groups then took part in some aspect of Round Square service, following the Round Square Ideals to improve and develop our local community. It was an amazing day to see the delegates taking part in service on the beaches and in and around school and our own students taking on their own projects to further develop the Round Square Philosophy.
The conference ended on Saturday after an amazing day in the Lake District on Lake Windemere. The Round Square Conference has given many of our students amazing memories and skills that they will hopefully benefit from and look back on with joy. We now look forward to next years Round Square Conference and are excited to find out where this may be.
Liam Donovan, AKS Round Square Representative