09 September 2021
On the first weekend of the Term 3 holiday break, St Peter’s College will again host a Sony Children’s Holiday Camp. For three days and two nights, a group of our Year 11 students paired with students from Wilderness School and will be responsible for the care of sixteen children with a disability.
To prepare for the camp, the Year 11s conducted a full day of training on Saturday 4 September in the St Peter’s College Boarding House, consisting of sessions on communication, manual handling, pool safety and hygiene. Students were able to learn from an Occupational Therapist and Physiotherapist along with Ms Belinda Radbone, our Coordinator of Students with Diverse Learning Needs. This training day was in addition to online training courses over the course of the term facilitated by the Sony Foundation.
The training day concluded with our guest campers visiting St Peter’s College and meeting with their Year 11 Companions. With organisation in the final stages for the camp, we are planning a range of exciting activities including swimming, a disco, cooking and art activities. We also plan to have a visit from the emergency services for our guests to look through their vehicles and speak to officers. On the final Tuesday of the camp a mini-fair will be held with a petting zoo, jumping castle, face painting and other special activities. Excitingly for 2021, we will also be leaving the Blue & White set-up so that our guests can experience their own Blue & White Experience during the camp.
Events like this truly bring out the best in a community and last year was a genuinely remarkable experience for all involved. Our students involved will again immerse themselves in the realities and complexities of life while sacrificing their time to selflessly put the needs of another first. A special thank you to all the St Peter’s College staff who are volunteering their time to support the camp and also to our Mission Guild for again supplying gift hampers for families of children attending the camp so they can have respite and be spoilt.
Ray Pearson
Director of Boarding, International & Indigenous Programs