On 25^th June, 2025 MSJ hosted our first online discussion event postcard with Round Square on the topic entitled, “Trust in a post-truth world”. We welcomed 16 schools onto the call from around the world from countries including India, South Africa and here in the UK. Students from Year 12 at MSJ organised sub-topics for 8 breakout rooms and led and managed the 45 minute discussions between the attendees in their rooms, before joining together at the end to share the feedback and conclusions from each discussion. The debates, thoughts, conversations and conclusions were excellently hosted by our students and everyone gained an international perspective on the topic.

“Our Round Square postcard was a really insightful way to connect with other schools across the globe. My room discussed how historical narratives impact trust, a theme which everyone seemed to have an opinion on, particularly in relation to colonialism and understanding that we all have a different view on history. Hosting gave me good experience to expand my listening skills and work with a team in developing our postcard that we’re all very proud of.” April-Louise

“Attending the Round Square Zoom conference was a really enriching experience. It gave me the chance to connect with students from around the world and reflect deeply on the theme in my break-out room of, “Truth vs half-truths”. I came away feeling inspired, having heard so many diverse perspectives, and grateful for the opportunity as it was very eye-opening and insightful!” Amira

“This event was a great way to work as a team to organise this event, to explore a new topic and push myself outside of my comfort zone. Hosting was thoroughly enjoyable and allowed to me think on my feet, to quickly absorb and comprehend information, as well as to ask questions to others. I could discuss and discover opinions from students all over the world with different experiences of social media and the trustworthiness of media reporting due to propaganda and political events.” Claudia

“This was my first time hosting a Round Square conference, and the topic “Truth vs Science” was something I wasn’t very familiar with. I found it a bit challenging and nervous at the start, but as the discussion went on, I built more confidence in guiding and keeping the discussion on track. We used a postcard to introduce the topic and gave everyone a clear starting point. During the discussion, many students referred back to the postcard as an example, which kept the conversation focused. It was a great opportunity to enhance my listening skills and strengthen my ability to work as part of a team.” Jade

“I found the Round Square meeting about ‘Trust in a post-truth world’ to be an incredibly insightful experience to take part in and learn about different viewpoints and opinions from people all around the world. In addition, helping to host the meeting I further developed organisational and communication skills through working alongside the other people in my year group. In my breakout room, we discussed the harmful impact that the lack of truth and transparency throughout social media has on so many people. We agreed that although it is a difficult issue to stop, due to news, gossip and rumours spreading extremely fast on social media platforms, false information can be prevented from being spread, if we research circulating rumours so we are not sharing or believing false information.” Kasey

“I found the round square postcard zoom very interesting and engaging. I was running the break-out room called, “Trust vs AI and deepfakes”. We discussed many things including AI in social media and whether AI would be able to take over and if humans would lose control over AI.” Imogen