SISTER Kathleen Slattery arrived at St. Peter's Primary School in North Bendigo as the foundation principal in 1971, only two days after being told of her posting.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
50 years on, this weekend she will congregate with the school community and the current principals Jen Roberts and Mick Chalkley to mark five decades of educating local young people.
READ MORE:
"The night before school started I said, 'what am I doing?'" Sr Kathleen said.
She was told she would be teaching at St. Kilian's Primary School, but she didn't realise then that a second school was being established by the Mercy Sisters to teach an excess of children in the catchment.
"I imagined I was coming to the big building," she said.
Instead she turned up to a "little dust bowl, 72 kids, 100 parents and nothing else".
"We didn't have any money, we had nothing," she said.
"We didn't have a desk when we went.
"But I had a dream."
Community members brought desks up the hill to the school, while Sr Kathleen recalled Monsignor de Campo "running around to get desks".
In the early days, it was just Sr Kathleen and a young girl called Christine Gardner teaching 72 students, but 50 years on - the dream has been realised.
"It feels very strange because one day when I was teaching, I stood out about where the school is now," Sr Kathleen said.
"I thought, what do we hope for for these little kids?
"And I hoped that we would be able to develop within them a sense of their own worth, and that they had a responsibility in their lives.
"The best part of that was that happened."
Sr Kathleen got rid of "the lines and the marching", teaching the students just to walk into the classroom among their peers without interrupting each other, and she saw that again when she went back to the school many years later.
"What I had dreamt that day happened in front of me when the kids came in," she said.
"The little tiny ones, some are tiny, and they're all trying to do what the big kids were doing.
"And they were just doing their own thing, but with sincerity and honesty, not having been told to do this.
"They just did it and that's what I dreamed."
Sr Kathleen has been back for the school's 40th anniversary and also for cake for her 80th birthday with some students, but Sunday's mass and community event are sure to be some of the biggest festivities the school has seen in some time.
READ MORE:
Having worked in classroom teaching and then more broadly in the education setting since 1951, the now retired Sr Kathleen has a soft spot for St Peter's, the small school in Fenton Street.
Co-principal Jen Roberts said the founding principal's ethos continued to be felt to this day.
"Our four school values now are care for self, care for others, care for learning and care for the environment," she said.
And that is down to Sr Kathleen.
Originally the site was all portable classrooms but from 2001 it began a transformation to its current impressive state - something even Sr Kathleen could not have dreamt up.
July 24 there will be an open day beginning with a jubilee mass at St Kilian's at 10am before the congregation heads back to the school for finger food and a tour - with the work of current students on display.
Grades five and six have interviewed people from the school community, while grades three and four have focused on celebrations and the youngest students have learned about the physical buildings - and their learnings will be up to help attendees reminisce.
Into the future, Sr Kathleen said she hoped the school would continue to develop within the children a sense of personal responsibility and a sense of themselves.
"When they do that, they don't create trouble for other people," she said.
"They are aware of, and care for, other people."
As for Sr Kathleen, she is already keen for the 60th anniversary in 2032.
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