Over the past term, students from 5/6P have visited residents to find out about their lives via interviews.

Teacher and stage 3 assistant principal Jennylee Petrysen said the experience had been invaluable for both the students and the residents despite both sides feeling a little bit apprehensive at first.

“The students are 10, 11 and 12 so they are quite young and we were unsure how they would go with interviewing the residents and some of the comments I received from the residents were that they were quite nervous in the beginning,” she said.

“That all changed when they got to know each other. It has been so worthwhile. We didn’t know how it was going to go but both the residents and the students got so much out of it.”

Students were paired up and tasked with writing a biography of a resident at the village and interviews were conducted over four visits.

The students returned to Calvary earlier this month to read the fruits of their labours to the residents and Ms Petrysen said that there were plenty of tears and hugs.

“It was just fantastic to see the students getting to know the residents personally and learning about their lives,” she said.

Ms Petrysen said that the program was so successful that some of the students have inquired about bringing their parents to Calvary to meet their resident.

“The project turned into so much more than I expected it to be,” she said. “It has been really heartwarming to see those relationships build.”

She added that during the students’ final visit to Calvary, to read the residents their stories, the class also presented each resident with a poster that contained interesting facts about the year they were born as a way to say an extra “thank you.”

“It was also good in that it gave the children an insight into what a nursing home actually is,” Ms Petrysen said.

“They quickly found out that they are full of vibrant people with truly interesting stories to tell and learned the importance of taking the time to care about others”