WHAT OPPORTUNITIES EXIST TO COLLABORATE WITH STUDENTS FROM OTHER RS SCHOOLS?

Member schools of Round Square operate in four dimensions: 1) they organise and run their own internal RS programmes, 2) in addition, they may 'adopt' an underprivileged school or community to work with, 3) they interact regionally with other RS schools, 4) they interact internationally.

Markham College is the first Latin American school to join Round Square. What was known as the North American region of Round Square has now become 'The Americas', on account of our membership. We already enjoy sports and debating exchanges with schools within South America, although we are keen to see this expand to include other activities (drama, music, service, adventure, etc.) and other schools. Within time, we would expect a number of other schools from South and Central America to be invited to join us in Round Square. This way, we could share bigger Round Square projects on a regional scale. We send a delegation to the annual Young Round Square Conference of the Americas. This strengthens our bonds with schools from across North America, and opens up opportunities of mutual benefit.

Since joining Round Square in September 2004, we have participated in service and adventure projects in the Cajamarca region, shared with groups of students and teachers from Australia, Canada, the USA and the UK. We have sent senior delegations to the international conferences of Round Square held in Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa (2003), Massachusetts, USA (2004) and in Melbourne, Australia (2005).  The 2005 conference delegation spent 8 days on the Thai island of Koh Phi Phi, helping to reconstruct the island school in the international effort to restore living conditions on the island following the tsunami disaster of 26 December, 2004. In May 2006, we will continue with our project work in Cajamarca; in July 2006, we will open up a new service and adventure project in Huaraz, in the central Andes. Apart from working closely with the community, this will offer exciting possibilities for trekking, mountaineering and a whole range of outdoor pursuits in a high altitude environment. 
  

Students in member schools have the opportunity to benefit from a period of exchange at an RS school in another part of the world. This could be for a month, a bimester, a semester or even a year! The cost of such an exchange is practically NOTHING, apart from the standing commitment to continue to pay Markham College fees during the school year, and an emergency deposit of around $500 with the host school - no further fees would be payable to the school being visited for tuition, food or accommodation. In most cases, there would only be the price of the plane ticket and medical insurance to pay, as well as the commitment to receiving a student from another country in exchange. So far, we have had students benefit from study placements in Germany, England, Canada, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and India. Students from these, and other countries have visited, or will be visiting Markham College in return for varying periods of time. 

Teachers also benefit from membership of the RS network. They are able to apply for periods of exchange with teachers from other RS schools, so that they can share their knowledge and experiences of teaching in Peru with their international colleagues, and return to Peru fortified by their experiences of extended Professional Development and with a broader intercultural outlook. We have made a start in this respect – one teacher has enjoyed an extended period at a school in Australia, and other applications are in progress.