For most of the young pupils at St. Peter's Primary School, this year's 50th anniversary is hard to fathom, but for others it runs in the family.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Current pupils continuing the legacy include Oliver Ring, Harry Wilson, and brothers Andre and Nikiri Bysouth - who each follow in the footsteps of their parents - Kylie, Ben and Shaniqua respectively. Along with their classmates, they have enjoyed looking over vintage photos from the school's history as the community prepares to mark the milestone.
Co-principal Jen Roberts said it was an "amazing" place to work.
"It's hard work but it's a beautiful community," Ms Roberts said.
"And the staff are great, and the kids are great obviously. The excitement is building for them as we approach the date."
Read more:
Mick Chalkley joined Ms Roberts as co-principal in 2018, and the pair are keen to get pupils involved in the celebrations - bringing back former students and staff to interview or working on other classroom projects to learn more about the history.
St. Peter's was established in 1972 as an additional school for the St. Kilian's Parish and was founded by the Mercy Sisters. Originally the site was all portable classrooms but from 2001 it began a transformation to its current state.
It was not always an easy journey, Ms Roberts and Mr Chalkley said, but that community effort meant a lot of the alumni and former staff hold the school very dearly.
Currently St. Peter's has the highest proportion of Aboriginal pupils of any catholic school in Victoria, something of which it is very proud and is a cornerstone of the curriculum.
"About a third of our students are Indigenous so we have a lot of Indigenous and First Nation things running through our school," Mr Chalkey said.
"Each of the classes has an Indigenous name, certain rooms or bits of our school have Indigenous names and we have a Koori education worker full-time on staff."
Ms Roberts and Mr Chalkley highlighted that this cultural recognition is interspersed through all of their classes and conversations and shared with all students.
"We obviously acknowledge NAIDOC Week, Sorry Day and Reconciliation Week and those sorts of things," Mr Chalkley said.
"And at least once through the year, we'd have some Indigenous performer, whether that be music or story.
"There's quite a bit that we do to acknowledge that and the beauty here is that it's just interwoven into everything we do.
"It's not like an add-on, plus everybody's involved."
The school boasts a number of excellent facilities including a gathering space known as the Knuldoorong Centre - with Knuldoorong meaning 'All together'. A kitchen garden called Djak Tjarra is another fantastic area that gives the pupils an opportunity to get out in nature.
Read more:
"It's an environmental kitchen and garden and that's a really beautiful part of our space and the kids love it," Ms Roberts said.
"Because they get to go and cook something and then they go and do gardening and help with the chooks and then they come back inside and eat whatever it was that they made.
"So that's just one of the things that they really enjoy about their week."
Another thing Ms Roberts highlighted was the second language pupils learn - Auslan or sign language - to enable students to take that knowledge forward and build a more inclusive community.
In 2022 the school celebrates its 50th anniversary and there are a number of celebrations to commemorate this exciting event.
"The grades five and six are focusing on people and so that's why they've been interviewing past people from the community," Ms Roberts said.
"Grades three and four are focusing on celebrations and the preps, ones and twos are focusing on the physical building so they've all got a different area that they are working on."
The students will focus on these key areas and then on July 24 there will be an open day beginning with a mass at St Kilian's before the congregation heads back to the school for finger food and a tour.
Students will have their semester's work displayed as visitors return to their school as they see everything that has changed over the years like the buildings and the technology, and reminisce on days gone by.
"We're planning to have Sister Kathleen Slattery, the first principal, unveil a plaque for a gum tree she planted on site," Mr Chalkley said.
"And then we're also planning to plant another a tree as well with a plaque that says this was planted on the 50th anniversary.
"Then potentially we'll put a time capsule underneath to open in the next 50 years."
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:
- Download our app on iOS and Android
- Bookmark bendigoadvertiser.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter @BgoAddy
- Follow us on Instagram @bendigoadvertiser
- Join us on Facebook
- Follow us on Google News