The 14 students, who were hosted by various Christ Church families, took part in specialised classes including ESL with Prep School teacher Kylie Sydney, ICT with Chris Anderson, Geography with Allan Hallett and football lessons with Luke Dwyer. Mr Dwyer said the boys learnt the fundamentals of the game including kicking, handballing and marking. “The boys skills were surprisingly very good and they thoroughly enjoyed playing a modified game with tackling. Mastering the bouncing of the ball was a bit of a challenge but they seemed to enjoy learning a new sport.”

The exchange was a reciprocal visit after Christ Church students completed their homestay exchange at Hotoku Gakuen in April. During the tour, Headmaster Garth Wynne made his debut at the school where he caught up with the boys, met the school’s headmaster and thanked staff for their hospitality over the years.

Japanese teacher Mike Armstrong, who instigated the exchange agreement with the high school in 1989, said the visit had been a positive experience for all involved. “They were a nice group of boys and the feedback from the host families was great,” he said.

Mr Armstrong said one Japanese student was lucky to see some of rural Australia when he spent a weekend at Year 10 student Daniel English’s farm in Pingelly. Other activities included a day trip to Yanchep National Park for a barbecue, nature walk and koala watching.

On their last day at Christ Church, some students spoke at the Senior School assembly along with Dylan Shelton (Year 10), who was the most recent student to complete a three-month exchange at Hotoku Gakuen.