St Joey's carnival keeps kids active

By Simon Ruppert

Oct 20, 2020

Life at St Joseph's Primary seemed almost back to normal on Thursday when grades 3 to 6 took part in its annual athletics carnival.

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With months of distanced learning and limited activities, the world may have seemed a bit odd to youngsters since the pandemic began.

Which is possibly why there were so many smiling faces as kids ran around with friends, got exercise and, for the first time in a while, got to take part in normal school activities.

The event was a toned down version of what would normally take place - which is not only a whole of school carnival, but also includes Benalla P-12 College junior campuses.

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Deputy Principal Leigh Symons said that while it was a shame the carnival could not happen in its normal form, it was a great opportunity to get the kids back enjoying their time at school.

“We usually do this with Benalla P-12 College to make it a whole of town athletics day but COVID-19 has thrown that out the door sadly,” Mr Symons said.

“But we wanted to do something that brought our community together because of all those community events that have been cancelled this year.

“Being outside and being able to actually have this event, and be safe about it, we jumped at the opportunity.

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“It’s not our traditional athletic event, there’s sack races and some other things – we’ve had to improvise a little bit.

“But just for our kids to see the excitement and to enjoy actually being able to do something together, work together, celebrate together and be outside together it’s fantastic.”

Mr Symons said that even though it was only the first week back it feels like they have been back for longer.

“In a good sense,” he said.

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“They have slipped back into the school routine and it has been seamless.

“They've adapted back to face-to-face learning brilliantly. The smiles on the students’ faces, and not just them, the staff members too.

“We’re just rapt to have students back in the classroom. Hearing the kids’ laughter and talking with parents when they get dropped off every morning.

“The parents are rapt to have the kids back and they’re happy that their child’s happy and back into some kind of normality.

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“So it’s been a really seamless transition back, which is great.”

Mr Symons also mentioned that Thursday, October 22 is footy day at St Joey's.

“So we'll do some footy events all day and get the kids playing footy, and netball,” he said.

“And they'll all get dressed up in their favourite team's colours for the AFL Grand Final.”