Kindergarten Visits Canberra Airport
By Miss Melinda Hamilton, Teacher
On Tuesday and Wednesday, Kindergarten students visited Canberra Airport to learn how the airport is part of a system that helps people move from place to place. We rode on Radford buses to get to the airport and then headed into the departures area to see the Hudson Bomber plane that is over 70 years old.
Our tour guide Kell then showed us where you check in, which included putting your bags onto a conveyer belt and getting a ticket. We all got to move through airport security, watching the teachers' bags get scanned and walk through a metal detector. Some people even got an extra-special security test with a special wand touching their clothes.
Once in the terminal, we watched luggage move on conveyer belts under the floor. We also loved sitting by the windows and watching the planes land and take off. The pilots even waved to us. They were flying their plane to Brisbane (warmer than Canberra at the moment!). We saw the truck push the plane back as they can’t reverse. We even saw the Prime Minister's Air Force One plane take off.
Finally, we saw a demonstration by the AFP of their special airport dog, which has a super strong sense of smell to identify items that don’t belong at the airport.
We had such a fun visit and loved learning all about the airport system.
Student reflections:
"I liked when we got to see the planes take off because the planes looked fun, and I wanted to go on one!" - Melanie.
"I liked when my Dad came on the excursion because he got to be my partner" - Louis.
"I liked the special tunnel that people walk down to get on the plane. It is called an aerobridge" - Max B.
"I liked when the planes landed because they go speeding on the runway" - Oscar.
"I liked seeing the tiny pelican aeroplane. It was very tiny and it didn’t have many seats" - Kiaan.
"I liked seeing the dog because it was very cute. Its job is to smell stuff" - Koen.
"I liked the police dog and the virtual reality screen where we saw a cheetah" - Randall.
"When I grow up, I want to be a police officer who works with the dogs just like we saw today" - Max T.