Ocean Road Primary School get into the Anzac spirit

V360 Australia ambassador and education assistant Leah Lawler has established the relationship between Ocean Road and V360 Australia, and feels a tremendous sense of achievement through connecting these two communities.

"It is extremely important we get students involved to ensure future generations have an understanding of who we are as Australians and the sacrifices made by those who fought in the wars to give us our freedom," she said.

Mrs Lawler hopes this ongoing relationship instils a sense of community in the students and encourages them to reach out and help others.

Ocean Road has been supporting V360 Australia since 2016. The first year of fundraising involved three staff members cooking Anzac biscuits and selling them at school, with all funds raised from the sale of the biscuits going directly to V360 Australia.

This year, there were 15 staff members involved and they cooked multiple batches of Anzac biscuits. Student leaders visited each classroom over three days selling the biscuits, raising $580 for V360 Australia.

V360 Australia is a registered charity, established in October 2015 with the aim of conducting assertive outreach, raising awareness and providing ongoing support for homeless veterans throughout Australia. On any given night it is estimated that around 3000 Australian Defence Force veterans are sleeping in conditions that are classified as homeless by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Students, staff and community members gathered on the last day of school at Ocean Road Primary School's annual Anzac ceremony to honour all Australians who have served our country in times of war and conflict, in particular the original Anzacs.

Mr Bart Mavrick attended the ceremony as a representative of the Dawesville sub branch of the RSL and addressed students. School leaders did a wonderful job of hosting the ceremony and selected students sang Rusty Its Goodbye and the whole school joined in with Lest We Forget.