INAUGURAL Applecross Senior High School students have re-visited their old stamping ground to discuss plans for 60th anniversary celebrations in 2018.
Barrie Nugent was one of the group given a recent tour of the school where he was a student on day one back in January, 1958.
The Swan Valley resident said plenty had changed.
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READ NOW“One of the biggest things was the wonderful facilities it has now,” he said.
“When we went it was a brand new school finished just a month before it opened.
“It was just sand.”
Mr Nugent said he was also taken aback by the mature trees and how the surrounding low-lying bushland had been overtaken by suburbia.
The former students were quick to reacquaint themselves, sharing memories from their time at the school close to six decades ago.
“They all fondly remembered their first day at their new school when they were chaperoned out on to the sandy oval for an official photograph,” principal Paul Leech said.
“Many of them were able to spot themselves in the photo almost 60 years later.”
Mr Leech said that while all had very fond memories of their school days, they did mention discipline was tight and the uniform policy strictly adhered to.
“The girls wore bonnets and long gloves and had to have their skirts below their knees,” he said.
“The First Mistress Miss Jones would constantly patrol the school ensuring total compliance.
“One or two of the former students remember receiving the cane for forgetting to do their homework or for being late to assembly.”
The original students have offered to play an ongoing role with the anniversary celebrations in 2018.
Mr Nugent said a sundowner was one option on the table.
The school would like all former students and teachers who attended the school between 1958 and 1968 to register their email address at Applecross.SHS.60YearsAtApplecross@education.wa.edu.au.
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