Japanese trip opens new avenues for school

Kingston Primary School principal Alan Kidd boarded a plane to Japan earlier this month to visit Takenodai Elementary School.

The school, located in Hyogo Prefecture which is WA’s sister State, signed a sister school agreement with Kingston during MrKidd’s visit.

Mr Kidd described the five-day trip as a ‘‘cultural experience’’ and said he learned a lot about the country and the way their schools operate.

‘‘The two schools actually operate quite similar with the way we believe children should be treated and relationships between students and teachers,’’ he said.

‘‘I taught Year 1, 3 and 6 students while Iwas there which wasa fantastic experience and I had them singing Waltzing Matilda by the end of my five days there.’’

Mr Kidd said Kingston would begin using Virtual Classroom technology with Takenodai to help teach his students Japanese.

‘‘There’s no better way to learn Japanese then learning from people who live in Japan and speak the language daily,’’ he said.

‘‘Our students will be learning Japanese from teachers at Takenodai andwewill be teaching English to their students with the aid of the Virtual Classroom.

‘‘Both schools will certainly benefit greatly from the sistership.’’