The principal fairy at Alfredton Primary School granted students, parents and staff a day of fun to celebrate the work completed via weeks of remote learning and inject a spark into students ahead of the staged return to school.
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Principal Laurel Donaldson and assistant principal Paula Sprague donned fairy costumes, bubbles and balloons as families walked, rode and drove past the Alfredton school to pick up lollipops from a treasure chest.
And pupils were set fun tasks for the day including a home treasure hunt, design a hat task, cooking, jokes and other activities, rather than school work.
The day was marked in the calendar several weeks ago, before it was revealed that prep, grade one and two students would return to their classrooms on Tuesday May 26.
So the fun day took on an extra meaning over and above the fun celebration of what children, families and teachers have achieved during the coronavirus pandemic.
"The idea behind it, before we realised about coming back to school, was to show appreciation to our families and also to the children for the wonderful job they have done during remote learning and just as a way of saying thank you," Ms Donaldson said.
"And now with with school coming back next Tuesday it was a fun way to start to reconnect with our children as part of back to school preparations for our youngest students."
Ms Donaldson said she was overwhelmed by the response from families and children. "They were so happy. It was lovely to see all the children we have missed so much over the past five weeks."
For many children it had been an exciting build-up towards the fun day and seeing their principal and vice-principal in fairy costume.
"I had parents sending through emails and photos of how excited their children were before, and today. It has created a lot of joy for all of us."
Ms Donaldson said staff were looking forward to getting the school's youngest pupils settled back into class.
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