Former students and staff of a Wagga primary school will join the general public to celebrate its 50th anniversary and honour its first principal.
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Sturt Public School will open its gates to all on Saturday to mark the milestone, with several festivities in store for the occasion.
Principal Terri Inglis said it would be a celebration of the evolution of the Kooringal-based school.
"We're doing a formal ceremony and some of our students are performing," she said.
"We will do some tours around the school and there will be a barbecue and a STEM display by the children, and we are unveiling our old school bell on a new stand to be erected and put out on a display, which will have a plaque put on that.
"We are also introducing a new award in memory of late Sturt Public School principal Noel Collison, called the Desert Pea Award, which is a financial award that will be presented once a year to a student who has shown good initiative to support their learning."
The event will also be a chance for former staff and students to see just how much the school has changed over the years.
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Brian Kirton has been a teacher at Sturt Public for 31 years and is set to retire at the end of 2023.
Mr Kirton said the biggest change he has seen throughout the decades is to the infrastructure.
![Sturt Public School principal Terri Inglis pictured with school captains Houston Zhang, Xavier Harper, Evie Killeen and Asha Forrell with the old school bell ahead of Saturday's 50th anniversary celebrations. Picture by Madeline Begley Sturt Public School principal Terri Inglis pictured with school captains Houston Zhang, Xavier Harper, Evie Killeen and Asha Forrell with the old school bell ahead of Saturday's 50th anniversary celebrations. Picture by Madeline Begley](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/JEQDf2CFmqVGDcvEsZPwEY/092cddeb-a040-4f13-8519-089f9a9fd121.jpg/r0_0_5472_3648_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"The infrastructure is a huge change," he said.
"Every year the infrastructure changes especially the shaded areas for the students."
Assistant principal Linda Wood, who has been at the school for 21 years, said the classes have also changed over time.
"The classes themselves have also changed a lot, just the way we have the classrooms is very different to 20 years ago," she said.
"We have had new buildings to accommodate extra students, and new play equipment."
Ms Wood said another big change was the changeover of staff and students.
The Sturt Public School 50th Anniversary will also be an opportunity for old friends to reunite.
"We're really hoping to get former students and staff and any general public who are interested in seeing how things have changed over time [to attend the event]," Ms Inglis said.
For two year 6 students, it will be an opportunity for their parents, who attended the school, to relive their younger days.
![Sturt Public School assistant principal Linda Wood with principal Terri Inglis, teacher Brian Kirton and school captains Houston Zhang, Asha Forrell, Evie Killeen and Xavier Harper ahead of Saturday's 50 year anniversary celebrations. Picture by Madeline Begley Sturt Public School assistant principal Linda Wood with principal Terri Inglis, teacher Brian Kirton and school captains Houston Zhang, Asha Forrell, Evie Killeen and Xavier Harper ahead of Saturday's 50 year anniversary celebrations. Picture by Madeline Begley](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/JEQDf2CFmqVGDcvEsZPwEY/3f45f753-b664-4bab-8119-193621658112.jpg/r0_0_5415_3610_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
School captain Asha Forrell is always reflecting on how different her school experience was to her mother's - both of them doing their primary school at Sturt Public School.
"My mum is always telling me stories and about how something used to be when she went here," Asha said.
Similarly, school captain Xavier Harper's father also used to attend the school.
"Dad said the school gates used to be really small and he would often go to a lolly shop, which was on the corner," he said.
Sturt Public School will mark its 50th anniversary on Saturday from 11am to 2pm.
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