By Jed Lanyon
Wandin Yallock Primary School will celebrate last year’s postponed 150th anniversary as the pandemic halted the school’s festivities in 2020.
Former teacher Sue Marshall said the school wanted to give the occasion the celebration it deserved after realising the event couldn’t go ahead last year..
“There was a bit of frustration and disappointment but people realised, okay we can’t do that but we can do this instead. That’s the way we lived last year.
“There aren’t too many schools that are still going that are 150 years old. The event needs to be given the time that it deserves to be celebrated properly… It’s very significant to a lot of ex-students who went there.”
Plans are underway to see the birthday celebrations take place in October.
“I just want to catch up with people and want them to share their experience of their time at Wandin Yallock,” Ms Marshall said. “I want the current generation of kids to really understand how special that school is in their community and how proud they should be.”
At this stage, the school plans to host a devonshire tea in the afternoon and highlight a historical display featuring images of the school and its students, some of which are from Mont De Lancey’s collection.
Current students will be providing tours for visitors around the school grounds, where there will be a carnival atmosphere with stalls and food trucks. Current students plan to film and interview past students about their Wandin Yallock experience to be highlighted at the event.
The school will also officially unveil their restored jubilee gates, which received a makeover last year. The gates were temporarily removed and reinstalled in their fittings to where they have stood since 1929, ahead of the school’s 60th anniversary in 1930.
