The Peace Run team was welcomed to Donvale Primary School ...
... by Mr Ian McKinlay – himself a marathon runner.
We all watched the video of the peace run and talked about Peace and where we can find it within ourselves.
Mr McKinlay asked all the students to remember our moto – Peace begins with me! He asked the students to talk to their teachers about the Peace Run and the values that were promoted in the talk today.
Kate Brown and Ben Pascale, two of the school captains, came to receive the Certificate of Appreciation and the Peace Tree to be planted in the school grounds.
As the students left the hall, the Peace Torch was lit and they all had a moment to hold the Torch and make their wish for peace.
An extra Torch had to be lit to cope with the demand!
With some quick running between the schools we arrived at Our Lady of Good Counsel Primary School to meet the whole school.
The school had invited teachers and childcare workers from the local area to come to the Peace Run presentation.
Their values are love, empathy, courage and respect – values that the Peace Run hold dear too.
Some of the students came up to read out their Peace Pledges. Here are a few:
Be kind to everyone
Welcome everyone in our school
Be grateful
Use my words in a nice way
Keep a smile on my face
The three school captains – Victoria Bennet, Claudia Lucci and Oscar Kapakoulakins – came up to receive the Certificate of Appreciation and Peace Tree.
The Social Justice Leaders, Tilly and April, came to thank us on behalf of the school.
The teachers spoke at the end, saying how they are now all obliged to share the message of the Peace Run and keep peace in their hearts. They then asked who wanted to join the team?
Everyone put their hand up so our team may expand in the next section!
Orchard Grove Primary School was the next destination for our team.
The whole school were assembled in the hall ...
... with the Peace Run website up on their big screen, following where we had been in Australia.
When invited to sing with us, I believe this was the loudest and most enthusiastic of all the schools in Victoria so far.
Three grade 4 Ambassadors – Izzi, Cleo and Jackson – came up to receive the Peace Tree and Certificate of Appreciation.
Each of the students then held the Torch and then the senior students ran the team out of the school grounds.
Our final school in the Melbourne area was Kerrimuir Primary School. Here we were joined by a local Peace Run member, Jayna Uppal.
Meeting the 200 students in their hall.
These students really impressed us with their fast guessing of the team members’ respective countries.
At this school the students outdid the previous school in the singing. They all joined us in the actions and taking a moment of peace with us.
Two students, Jacob and Eloise, along with their teacher Kirrily came up to receive the Certificate of Appreciation and the Peace Tree on behalf of the school.
To finish the day we ran around the playground with the students to burn off all excess energy that we all had from such a fun and dynamic occasion.
When the day was done, we had the opportunity to catch up on the really superb presentation from WIN News in Ballarat, which had been compiled from filming the team over 2 days. Thank you to WIN News in Ballarat!
