• Sixty Year 5 and 6 students spent the day at Charles Sturt University in Orange to take part in interactive workshops, a campus tour and a mock graduation ceremony

It’s not every day a university throws its doors open for primary school students, but that’s exactly what Charles Sturt University did today.

The University’s Orange campus hosted approximately 60 Year 5 and 6 students from Glenroi Heights Public School for the ‘Check it Out!’ event presented by Future Moves.

The hands-on event included interactive workshops in plant propagation, agricultural science and physiotherapy, a campus tour, and a mock graduation ceremony for students to celebrate the end of their first university experience.

Future Moves Program Co-ordinator for the Central West region Mr Tom Griffiths said, “Today is all about introducing students to the world of university and increasing their understanding of further education and different learning environments.

“We know how important it is for students to have early experiences when it comes post-school options and careers because by the time they reach high school, many have already formed strong ideas about what they might want to do in the future.

“By hosting events like our ‘Check it Out!’ day, we hope to inspire students to consider the career options and opportunities that come from higher education.”

Stage 3 Assistant Principal Jess McAlister at Glenroi Heights Public School said there was so much excitement from students in the build up to today’s event and the students had been talking about the mini graduation all week.

She said the school brings students along to these types of events because they “really like to build a future story for our students and just let them know they have lots of fantastic options”.

“We had lots of really keen gardeners going to the propagation workshop and we’ve got students who’ve had physiotherapy, so to see it from the other side, what it’s like to be a physiotherapist and the sorts of people you would work with, was really valuable for them as well,” she said.

“I think events like this are really going to set them up for future opportunities, so they know they have to work hard if they want to do well.”

Year 6 student Savannah Howarth said today’s event was really fun and she enjoyed all of the activities.

“Today at university we did physiotherapy and went to the [science] lab and learned things about fruits,” she said.

Year 5 student Max Howell said before today he never knew you could live at university and he enjoyed the activities where he got to plant plants and learn about physio.

Year 6 student Lily-Grace Taylor enjoyed the agricultural science session the most where she learned about fruits and vegetables.

“I learned that peas were fruit, beans were fruit and cucumbers were fruit,” she said.

“My favourite part was that I won the test about all the fruits and vegetables – we learned what are fruits, and what are vegetables and are they roots or shoots.”

More information about Future Moves and its events is available on the Future Moves website.

Future Moves is operated by Charles Sturt and aims to inspire school students and young people from regional and rural areas to consider further education as a post-school option.