THE happiness was infectious at St Joseph’s Primary School Coleraine last Wednesday when the students decorated pot plants to give to the residents at Wannon Hostel and Valley View Nursing Home.

The day saw students from all year levels use bright textas to decorate cardboard flower pots that they then put a plant in and gave to the elderly members of their community.

Vic Kids Eat Well healthy kids advisor, Monique Sobey, said the students decorated 44 pots in total with all children embracing the task.

“In the first part of the day we decorated the pots and spoke to the children about making them bright and colourful and putting anything on there that would make others happy,” she said.

“They really enjoyed decorating, there were some kids who decorated two or three pots.

“We had footy teams, rainbows, trees, scenery, fruit and food - a big variety of illustrations.”

Six residents from Wannon Hostel and Valley View Nursing Home attended the school in the afternoon to receive the pot plants and take them back for the other residents, with Ms Sobey saying going forward the school hoped to do more activities with local community groups and organisations.

“When the school initially signed up we talked about how we could work together to include the community to try and make the program sustainable and ongoing,” she said.

“One of the obvious links was with the aged care facilities and having that link between the students and the residents.

“It was really nice that the residents were able to come to the school to receive (the pots) and interact with the students and staff members - it was really lovely to see the smiles on the residents’ faces.”

Wannon Hostel resident, Peter Bunney, said he thought it was “a great idea” for the students to decorate pot plants for them to take home and he looked forward to watching his Vinca Tropical grow.

“I enjoy gardening,” he said.

“(I’ll put it) in the garden in a shady spot, not completely shady though.

“I’ll find a good spot for it.”

Grade 6 student, Lacey Dickson, was among the group of students to decorate the flower pots and said she really enjoyed seeing the smiles on the residents’ faces as they admired the drawings. 

“I gave my pot to Johanna, she said she’d have it in her garden down at the Hostel,” she said.

“I drew a purple petaled flower and two butterflies on the pot, the trick was to get the shine in the petals.”

The residents were also treated to a performance from Foundation and Year 1 students which saw them clapping along while the children danced to the music.

St Joseph’s Primary School Coleraine Grade 3 and 4 teacher, Emily Dwyer, said the day was well received by all involved and plans were underway to run more activities of a similar nature.

“At St Joseph’s we are implementing a Mini Vinnies Program, which involves doing good works in the community that benefit people facing social injustice,” she said.

“We hope to share more of our learning with the residents and regularly communicate with them.

“We are still in the initial planning stages, so it’s exciting to see what happens. Some ideas for the future have been to make healthy foods to share with the residents, Christmas Carols at the end of the year and letter writing throughout the year.”

This was the school’s third visit from Ms Sobey who has been working with the school to encourage healthy lifestyles such as teaching the students about positive eating and growing their own food.