Australian International School has held a picnic night at school for students and parents to enjoy, with year 10 and 11 students participating as volunteer workers. 

The students in year 10 and 11 were able tod apply as the student volunteer workers in order to ensure safety for the primary school children. 

There were two types of volunteering segments: “Bouncy castle”, which is held in the Big Gym and “Disco”, which is held in the Small Gym. 

Every student had their own time slot, which lasted for an hour, but all of them were required to come to the Big Gym at 4:30 in order to listen to the brief explanation of the volunteering roles for each part of the activities. 

The instructor allowed the students to demonstrate each of the activities, and taught them how to react when certain unexpected situations arise.

Volunteering students were expected to arrive 10 minutes before  their designated time slot, and wore the safety vests at the information desk to ensure  that everyone, including the guests, recognized them as  volunteer workers.

There were about 4 activities organized in the Big Gym: Ax throwing, Mini basketball session, Ball throwing session, and the Bouncy Castle session. 

In Ax throwing, children threw a soft ax modeled cushion—this will keep the young children completely safe from any injuries on sharp objects.

The volunteers had to arrange them into two lines, and remove the ax from the target board. 

The Mini basketball session is where children can throw small plastic balls into mini goals. 

Ensuring their safety and placing the ball back back to the original area was the volunteer workers’ role. 

Ball throwing sessions were operated similarly to the mini basketball sessions.  

Due to its big size, bouncy castle session, where kids can move around in the air castle, required a lot more volunteers compared to the previous activities.  

Student volunteer workers were assigned in each corner of the gym to look out for the students. 

Volunteer workers were paired, and located on the start, middle and the end to ensure the safety of every child. 

The disco session was where students could enjoy the music and dance around the gym. 

Various lights were turned on to brighten up the atmosphere and make it much more energetic and lively. 

All the activities lasted for 3 hours, and students shifted 3 times in total. 

The school provided students with food coupons that they can use to have sandwiches for free, so that volunteers can also have dinner while waiting for their time slot. 

There were some people who brought their own mat, coming to the school as a big group of family. 

Different types of delicious food were provided, and various activities for primary students were also ready under the supervision of the safety guards and teachers. 

People had a great time, communicating with each other and relishing all the activities. 

Although students and parents would not use the main field freely due to the unexpected heavy rain, some of the little students still went out to play soccer or run around by themselves with the rain. 

Yujin Son
Australian International School 
Year 11