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STRATEGIC PLANS - CONNECTIONS

HALE-PHA-BET

FUN DAY

On a lovely spring day in September, Hale Junior School was buzzing with
excitement as we welcomed almost 100 new and existing Lower Junior boys
and their families to an afternoon of fun and adventure. It has become a
Hale Junior School tradition to invite future and prospective families to our
school to experience the wonder of early childhood education, meet the staff
and get to know one another. ART

This year, the theme for our event was ‘Hale-pha-bet’. Twenty-six fun and
engaging activities were organised, all starting with a letter of the alphabet.
These ranged from artists to zoo animals and were set up in areas around WITH
the Junior School that the younger boys might visit on a regular day such as
the gymnasium, Art Room and Learning Hub. This enabled us to showcase
the broad curriculum we provide for boys from Pre-Primary to Year 2 and our HEART
amazing facilities.
With so many activities to choose from, we gave the boys a bingo card and a
map to follow at the start of the afternoon and encouraged them to visit an The 1000 Hearts Project involves the sharing
activity that coordinated with a letter on their card. To ensure that all the boys of small pocket hearts, which are hand made
had afternoon tea and a play in the nature space, all bingo cards had the letters from wool felt and stitched with love and good
‘c’ for cookie and ‘n’ for nature play. The mystery of the afternoon surrounded intentions.
the letter ‘h’, which was present on all of the bingo cards but not included on The founder, Sarah de Jonge, believes that
the map. It was only when the boys chatted to Mr Simpson, and he put an ‘h’ being kind to ourselves and others helps us and
stamp on the cards that the connection was made: ‘H’ stood for Head of Junior our world to heal. Ever since she was a small
School! child, she collected small items to carry as
talismans against fear and sadness. Since the
As the afternoon drew to a close and the sun
started to set, we waved goodbye (for now) to project started, she has made many thousands
many happy and content boys and their families, of hearts and others have joined in, creating
while looking forward to seeing many of them a global network of ‘heartists’ committed to
again soon. spreading kindness. Together, they have offered
felt hearts to people struggling with a wide
variety of challenges.

Some Year 6 and Year 7 Hale students, along
with a happy bunch of Hale staff, have now
joined the ’heartist’ community. On Tuesdays
during Semester 2, they happily sewed their
hearts, making one to carry with them, followed
by one for someone close to them. This heart is
given with love, kindness and compassion. Any
further hearts are made to donate within our
local communities, including aged care centres,
chapels and refugee centres.
Our Year 9 Service Learning students took along
some hearts to their weekly visits at Floreat
Park Primary School and taught the younger
children how to sew blanket stitch. Before we
“There is no better place to create a knew it, a ’heartist’ community had exploded in
caring community than in our school – the playground of Floreat Park!
the heart of our future. This was a rewarding activity for all involved and
no doubt appreciated by the recipients.
– Patricia Gandara, Research Professor of Education

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