School to reflect on 150 years

EVERYONE is invited to join in the festivities when the Mount Pleasant Primary School community celebrates a major milestone.

Next month, the school will join the prestigious list of state-built institutions reaching 150 years of operation.

Mount Pleasant Primary School’s business manager Janine Schulze said the event will be amplified by public involvement.

“On the day we’ll have our original building, which will be turning 150 years old, open for people to come and walk around and tour the classrooms,” she said.

“We’ll have photo displays running from a TV and in our arts centre we’ll have the [Mount Pleasant History Group] there with our old photos and enrolment records on display.

“There’ll also be a display from the Albert Coates Foundation there because he was a well-known person in the area who went to the school and became a doctor.

“Each year our grade 6 students do a project on Albert Coates so they’ll be there with their display and information as well.

“It’s a fantastic milestone. We’ve celebrated 100 years, 125, now 150 years, which is amazing. We’re very lucky to have the history group doing a lot of work for this too.”

The event will be opened with a smoking ceremony and the school’s choir performing an original piece created last year about the school’s history.

Tea, coffee, and a birthday cake will be available for attendees while a book fair of children’s literature will feature with funds to go towards the school’s library.

Ms Schulze said many past students have expressed interest in returning, with some to visit from interstate.

“We’ve got people coming as far as Canberra and maybe a group from Western Australia,” she said. “A lot of people in their 70s and 80s are interested.

“For our 125th anniversary, we planted a time capsule but it’s a mystery where we put it because no one can remember.

“In trying to find it, we’ve found little artefacts like Selkirk bricks and old coins.

“That’ll be a bit of a guessing game because we’re hoping someone from the community in attendance will remember where it was planted.”

Commemorative 150th anniversary glasses will be for sale. The event will run from 10am to 2pm on Saturday 19 October.