To celebrate Williamstown Primary School’s 150th anniversary, two parents from the school have partnered together to join a committee of other parents who are curating the special celebrations.
Amber Cassidy and Zeena Lateef have joined the school’s leadership team led by parent Nic Paramanis.
“We started with the 125-year brochure and approached many of the original contributors to this, then built the 150-year book from here,” Amber SAID.
“We then reached out to current and past students and staff to interview and capture a broad and diverse range of stories, memories and sentiments of their time with Williamstown Primary School.
“Both Zeena and I conducted interviews at the school, Williamstown Library, in people’s homes, over the phone and via email.”
Amber said the pair reached out to past students and teachers of the school as far as New Zealand and the UK.
“We spent days trawling through the school’s archives, researching local knowledge, and we worked closely with the school to capture current students’ voices and stories in the booklet.
The book is divided into six chapters, which Amber said covers history, principals reports, staff accounts, student accounts, 2023 and the 150 year celebrations.
“I have so many favourite parts of the book including the truth telling and reconciliation section, which sets the tone for the whole book which is one of connection to place, time and community.
“The principals reports are great barbecue you can really feel the dedication and commitment from the leadership teams at the school over the years and the significant cultural and facilities changes they curated in partnership with the community around them.
“As well as the past students and staff accounts, which really paint a picture of what it was like to be a student or staff member throughout the decades of change in Williamstown.”
The school is currently taking expressions of interest for the book which will be available to purchase in September.
