When I drove home from the gym and turned into my street it was literally full of children all walking towards my house. Teachers herded them off the road to allow me to get into my driveway. I recognised the uniforms as the local school called John Paul College. It is an ecumenical private school and the largest school in Queensland with 2400 students. It is only one block away from our house.
I raced upstairs and grabbed my camera and captured thousands of children walking past our house and around the block 3 times. It was a walkathon to raise money to rebuild a house for a family who lost their house in the floods. Their house wasn't insured against flood.
They didn't have to wear their uniform but could dress up or wear their sports uniform.
They just kept coming and coming.....
....and going. More and more and more....... It is a quiet cul-de-sac street so they were quite safe on the road and there were many teachers and adults with them.
JPC is a lovely school and it is where our girls went in the 80's, but it wasn't as big or as flash as it is now. This is the Coleman Centre for high school children.
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| The classroom foyer in the Bradley Centre |
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| Open Learning Centre for older students. |
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| A Primary School class. |
This school is a leader in computer education and often have international teachers visiting for seminars.
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| For the very young students. |
The school caters for children at Child Care, Kindergarten, Prep through to Year 12 and Year 13 if students need an extra year to qualify for university. There is also an English Language School, where overseas students learn English prior to entering the college at high school level.
I raced upstairs and grabbed my camera and captured thousands of children walking past our house and around the block 3 times. It was a walkathon to raise money to rebuild a house for a family who lost their house in the floods. Their house wasn't insured against flood.
They just kept coming and coming.....
Such an impressive school! I must say, you had me fooled with your title...I had visions of you trying to pour 2,000 glasses of juice ;) Bet you were glad they were just passing by!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely place. I bet they had fun - mine usaed to love the sponsored walk days.
ReplyDeleteColin,
ReplyDeleteIt's not a Catholic school alone. It's an ecumenical school, it was born out of the co- operation of the local Anglican, Uniting, and Roman Catholic parishes and nowadays caters for all religions including muslims.
Thanks Bill for the information.
ReplyDeleteIt was the name that did suggest Catholic - John Paul. There are kids here in my neighbourhood who catch early trains to go there. That as you and Diane would know is a fair distance to travel 5 days a week, plus for weekend sporting activities.
Cheers
Colin
This is a different and fun post of life in your cul de sac. Life always turns up interesting things,
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely school. I am impressed by it's ecumenical nature. I think it's wonderful that the kids are learning to think of others. So important.
ReplyDeletehow cool is that? great shots Diane. :)
ReplyDeleteIt is funny to have so many people around the house. We have once a year "the four day evening walk" which passes our home too one evening, with screaming and singing children.
ReplyDeleteWow---what an incredible school, Diane. I 'assume' that the parents pay big monies in order for their kids to attend that school. We have some good private schools in our country also. How is public education in Aussie land? Ours is weak at best these days. SO--many parents are sending their kids to private schools. Or another big thing here is homeschooling...
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Betsy
My goodness, I just imagine thousand of kids walking through our street, lol ! that must have been quiet something !
ReplyDeleteAnd they did it for something very good !
What a beautiful, open, airy school!!! And such a good thing to have the walk, this is a life experience that teaches the kids compassion, and also good exercise.
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a wonderful school. I think it's great that the students wanted to raise money to help the family who lost their home. I hope they were very successful.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I call a beautiful school! A good cause for the students to participate in!
ReplyDeleteYes, Betsy, the parents pay about $2000 per term. It could be much more these days. Our public education is run by the states and it is not too bad in other states but our state of Queensland has not been doing well in the national testing. So its a hot topic in state politics at the moment on how to improve the scores.
ReplyDeleteThat must have been such a wonderful sight to see all those children walking on your street. I am very impressed by the last picture. the size of that classroom is unbelievable. And it's so bright and light. It makes me wish I was back teaching Kindergarten!
ReplyDeleteI am so impressed with how orderly and well behaved they appear. What a worthy cause too.
ReplyDeleteI love the hats on the two boys in the second image. :)
Looks like a great school althoug I think it is a shame that some schools grow so much that they lose something.
ReplyDeleteThe school my girls went to was only a small school back then and now it has grown a lot. Although I do agree that in some ways growing is a good thing as they can offer more but as said they also lose something.
I think it is great that the school did something to help the family that lost their home due to the flooding.
Wonderful with all the children walking to raise money.
ReplyDeleteThat sure is a large school.
Lovely site all those children doing something for others!
ReplyDeleteThe walkathon is a great idea for raising money. It must have been a sight to see walking by your house. The school really looks nice and modern. Diane, I hope you are having or had a great weekend.
ReplyDeleteDid you have biscuits and juice readY?
ReplyDeleteGreat job these kids did,
Wow! That was a mess o'kids! You must have been so surprised to see them all heading past your house! I had a tour bus of Japanese exchange students all standing on my front lawn so they could take photos of each other with my lilies, but that was more like 40 or 50, not thousands! What fun. Beautiful school.
ReplyDeleteWow, what a good thing they are going - collectively. :)
ReplyDeleteA surprise for you at first! Good on them too... such a good cause :D)
ReplyDelete