Farewell to Mulbarton Primary School
“Two significant things stand out for me. One was there wasn’t a single tree on the property; it was just dust and parents assisted us with saplings - which they then helped to plant; and the designing of our school badge."
GLORIA Nicholl, PA to the school’s principal at Mulbarton Primary School for 22 years, is retiring on April 26, after being there since the school first opened its doors in 1995.
Gloria is married, has two adult children and lives in Mondeor. She shared her memories with us of her time spent at the school.
“We opened the school with 200 children and I think we had six teachers; now there are 1 000 children and 40 teachers. Back then all the senior primary classes were empty because we didn’t have enough learners. The teachers said the staff room was too lonely so they had tea with me in my office – it became quite a ritual! The first principal was Alan Goodman and since then I’ve served another six principals,” Gloria said.
“Two significant things stand out for me. One was there wasn’t a single tree on the property; it was just dust and parents assisted us with saplings – which they then helped to plant; and the designing of our school badge. We wanted a bird on it and couldn’t decide which. We scoured encyclopaedias, but still couldn’t make up our minds. Then one morning, not long after, we saw hundreds of weaver birds eating the crumbs from the children’s lunch. It was like a light coming on, and there and then we made the weaver bird part of the school badge. The uniform was designed by the School Governing Body (SGB) and teachers, and they chose the colour teal because it was unusual then.
“I remember everything being brand new, gorgeous velvet curtains in the school hall, and we had lots of musical instruments, as well as two pianos. Tennis courts were built and the school field was graded but we had no sport grandstands, only a grassed embankment. There was no shade for our cars – only much later we got carports and the school tuck shop was run by moms. Neither did we have an aftercare at the beginning. A parent composed our school song, known fondly as The Mulbarton School Song, which is still sung today,” added Gloria.
Fundraisers played a big part in the school then and Gloria said they held camp outs, barn dances, lasagne and bingo evenings.
When asked about a particular memory that sticks out for Gloria, she laughed and said, “One mom sent a huge ice cream cake to school, with no plates, no knife and no napkins. One of the teachers told the children to line up and stick out their right arms. She cut the cake with a ruler and each child received a piece on their right hand!”
Gloria says she has received some beautiful farewell gifts from the staff, “I’ve been extremely spoilt, thank you.” She said her goodbyes will be emotional but it’s time to move on and she wishes Mulbarton Primary School a wonderful future.
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