Thursday 19 March 2026
This week is Round Square week both here at the College and internationally as the organisation celebrates it’s 60th birthday. The original eight founding schools of Round Square were based in Scotland, Germany, England, Greece, America and Switzerland with Heads of Schools originally the only participants. In the 1960s they were focused on building character and were inspired by German educator Kurt Hahn’s four pillars – fitness, expeditions, projects and service.
These eight schools had previously supported each other after an earthquake in Kefalonia, Greece, saw some of the schools send students to help with the recovery – they saw that this service had a positive impact on students. In the 1970s the Round Square conferences started to involve students as well as senior leaders and today there is a huge student-focus.
Round Square is now centred around six IDEALS: Internationalism, Democracy, Environmentalism, Adventure, Leadership and Service. It is an international network of more than 280 schools across 50 countries – King’s was the first school in New Zealand to join Round Square and remains the only member school in Auckland.
Through the programme, students can connect and collaborate with other schools and last year four of our Round Square Year 13 representatives travelled to Oxford, England to attend an international conference where they worked in teams with students from other countries, gave speeches, debated at the Oxford Union and attended events. This was an incredible educational experience for them.
This week we have celebrated Round Square with a series of events including debating moral dilemmas, hosting Democracy Society guest speaker and international relations, security and political risk management specialist Bradley Sawden who spoke about his experiences as an ambassador, the Enviro Club held a scavenger hunt around the campus and at lunchtime today there will be an international quiz.
With the ideals of Round Square firmly supporting our school values and reflecting similar themes, it is a great initiative for our students to be involved in.
There are currently 25 students signed up and there will be lots of exciting opportunities for them throughout the year to hear from guest speakers, collaborate with other schools and enhance the College with their learnings and insights.