Overseas students beamed into Brisbane classrooms

A Brisbane school has come up with a hi-tech way for its international students to stay in their classes as borders remains shut.

WITH international borders slammed shut for the foreseeable future, one Brisbane school has engaged an innovative way of keeping its overseas students in the classroom.

As school returns for Term 2 this week St Paul’s School Bald Hills will continue to host more than 30 international students, who each day beam in from their homes in Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, China and Indonesia.

Teacher-operated cameras allow the students to see everything that is happening inside the classroom, while laptops enable the students to join in on group work with their classmates and even venture into the playground.

Headmaster Paul Browning said while border closures had been challenging for the school’s international students, there had been unexpected benefits of being able to transfer the learning experience online.

Japanese student online Ota Haibara, 17, with fellow students Jessica Spiller, 16, Annabelle Milner, 16, and Arinesh Prasad, 16, with St Paul's director of international education Kathleen Power. Picture: Steve Pohlner

“While online learning has been beneficial for our international students, itʼs just as important for our domestic students,” he said.

“Having international students as part of their classes is helping our students become global citizens and provide them with even more opportunities to develop cross-cultural relationships.

“This experience has also opened possibilities for us to expand the education we offer domestically by considering how we could offer remote learning to students in remote locations.”

Japanese student Ota, 17, studies English, Maths, Accounting and Business at St Paul’s School from his home city of Yamanashi.

He said online learning was going “better than expected”, and he felt very supported by both his teachers and classmates.

“I have been able to access all of my lessons and resources easily, have learnt new things and I feel included in my classes,” he said.

But Ota said he was looking forward to returning to Australia once the borders open, and seeing his classmates in the flesh.