MILLICENT North Primary School (MNPS) took a trip down memory lane on the weekend in celebration of its golden 50th anniversary.
An in-school celebration kicked off the festivities on Friday and included related learning activities, an assembly and a cake cutting with present day students.
On Saturday, the school opened its gates to the public with an open day event, which featured a display in the gym and classrooms, including all staff photographs taken from 1968 to 2018.
The weekend finished with an evening celebration at the Millicent Football and Netball Clubrooms with drinks, music and supper.
MNPS history committee chairperson Wendy Mariager said overall the weekend was a great success and provided past teachers, students, parents and friends with the opportunity to reminisce, reflect and catch up.
“Everyone was really rapt with the display and all the photographs and information,” she said.
“Each current class was assigned a five-year time period and made a collage to represent those years, including current events, fashion, transport and communication.
“The collages generated a lot of interest from everyone, attending as did the class photographs.
“We had about 95 photographs sent in for the first 25 years that did not have any class names on them.
“We had a whole table of those and people were filling them out, it was really good because it got people talking about their classmates and also got those who were visiting involved in helping.
“Di Facy provided some fantastic resources, including readers and teaching programs from her time and there was a lot of interest drawn to them.”
Ms Mariager further extended her appreciation to all of the people involved in organising and setting up the weekend.
“Thanks to everybody,” she said.
“It has been a whole school effort and has been made possible thanks to the support of current staff, office staff, governing council, principals, parents and friends and students, as well as the community.
“Also thanks to Noel Boyle and Colleen Hammat, who took all the classes through the museum and learnt about what school was like in the past.
“We have received really good feedback from all those who attended.
“I think the vast majority of visitors were from the first 25 years and that probably comes down to the fact people who are a bit older in the town have that interest in its history.”
The time capsule, which was due to be buried at the event, will now be completed in upcoming months.
It will contain memorabilia, the original 25 year and 50 year anniversary books, as well as digital photograph and video collections compiled by each class.
“The time capsule will be laid at the front of the school and will be clear for all to see,” Ms Mariager said.
“We are going to archive as much as we can from this year’s anniversary to use for the next one.”
The school is still collecting class photographs and is calling out for community support.
• Photographs can be scanned and emailed to dl.0605.info@schools.sa.edu.au or dropped off at the school’s front office for scanning and returning.
