Rotary Club of Ocean Grove introduced the Rotary Junior Community Award in 1999 after it was first trialled by the Rotary Club of Mitchell River, Bairnsdale in 1997.
The program provides an opportunity for Year 6 students to involve themselves in developing and using their skills and abilities to benefit both themselves and the local community.
It was next introduced at Our Lady Star of the Sea Primary School and some years later at Surfside Primary School and, more recently, Wallington Primary joined.
Prior to the pandemic the program had been averaging about 50 participants annually.
The program operates with a team of four or five Rotarians regularly visiting the four schools commencing early in term one.
Having first sought the approval of school principals and school councils, the program is introduced at a Year 6 student meeting at each school and information is distributed to students and parents.
This is followed by a meeting with interested parents and students outlining the program, the commitment it requires for both students and parents and also insurance implications.
Various permission forms and a prepared ‘Student Plan’ outlining the activities each student plans to achieve are completed before individual student interviews are organised to take place at their school during the last weeks of term one.
Following their interviews, the students receive their Junior Community Award Diaries and are ready to start.
The activities the students complete consist of 10 hours each of community service, physical recreation and skills development – a total of 30 hours recorded in their student diaries, and six social experiences.
The social experiences are community commemoration, community meeting, cultural experience, religious/spiritual experience, the arts and environment. The six experiences all require active participation and a variety of reporting formats.
During terms two and three, members of the team visit the schools twice a term to meet with the students individually.
During the visits general progress is monitored, the recording of activities and also reporting formats are checked to make sure requirements for tasks are being met, queries are answered and suggestions discussed.
Later in term three activities should be nearing completion ready to submit for collection and assessment by the Rotary team at the end of week one in term four.
During term four the students who have successfully met the requirements of the program are presented with certificates by a Rotarian at presentation events organised at each school.
Two or three representatives from each school are invited to give a short presentation about an aspect of their award activities at the Rotary Club’s annual Graham Bath Junior Community Awards presentation night.
The night was held recently at Ocean Grove Surf Life Saving Club where some of the Year 6 students from Our Lady Star of the Sea, Ocean Grove and Surfside Primary Schools reported on their experiences.
