By Gabriella Payne
After the difficult year and a half that we’ve all faced, the kids at St James Catholic Primary School in Nar Nar Goon wanted to do something good for the community – and what better way than with a little thank you?
In a bid to say thanks and brighten up lockdown for a number of locals, the Grade 1 and 2 students at St James decided to draw some pictures and write some cards of appreciation for a few local community groups and parishioners – but they never expected anything back in return!
The principal of St James Catholic Primary School, Rebecca Kollaris, said that the kids had been blown away to receive a special surprise visit from some local heroes recently, as a thank you for their kind messages.
“The students at St James wrote cards to groups and parishioners in our community to wish them well and thank them for keeping us safe during lockdown and one of the groups we sent cards to was the Bunyip Police,” Ms Kollaris said.
“They dropped in [on Wednesday 13 October] to personally thank the kids for their thoughtfulness and congratulate them on the work they are doing at school,” she said, adding that the students were all “completely surprised” and thrilled by their un-announced visit.
“The kids were wrapped – they were just so excited!”
“We weren’t expecting to see them, but it’s really important for them to know that the police were thankful for what they’d done.”
Ms Kollaris said that it was an important part of the school’s Catholic values to give back to the community and show thanks wherever possible, as it was “important for the kids to think of others”, particularly those that they didn’t know personally.
“It was just great, the police spoke to the kids about what they had been doing during remote learning, thanked them and said they’d been doing a wonderful job and that they were really proud of them,” she said.
“It just completely boosted their energy.”
Ms Kollaris said that it was great to welcome back more students to onsite learning this week, and the school was looking forward to taking part in more community activities as lockdown comes to an end.
