Waverley Primary School to celebrate 150th anniversary with weekend-long event

A street parade will be held in Waverley to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the town's primary school. Photo / Bevan Conley

There’s a huge milestone coming up for Waverley Primary School this year.

The school will celebrate its 150th anniversary in March, and plans for the celebrations are under way.

The celebrations will take place from Friday, March 10 to Sunday, March 12, and registrations for the events are open.

Registration officer for the event, Christine How, said it was a big deal for her, as the school educated three generations of her family.

“I went to the school, my children went to the school, and my grandchildren are now going to the school.”

She said this was true of many families in the district, and she hoped the anniversary would be a big event for the town.

“It’s a pretty big deal when your school turns 150 years old... there’s not too many in the country that are that old,” she said.

She said registrations for the event had been slow so far, but when they held the 125th anniversary, a lot of people registered late.

About 800 people registered for the 125th anniversary, and with a lot of people talking about the 150th, she was hoping for similar numbers to turn up.

A pōwhiri will take place at the school on Friday, March 10 from about 5pm, and there’ll also been wine and cheese on offer until 9pm. The cost is $30 per attendee.

On Saturday, there will be a street parade on Main St at 10.30am, with a cutting of the cake and generational class photos being taken at 1pm and 1.30pm respectively at the school.

Finally, a church service will be held at 10am on Sunday at the school.

The parade was going to be especially big, How said. There would be floats taking part, and hopefully market stalls for people to visit afterwards.

“It’s quite a big weekend. really,” she said.

People can register for the event on the school’s website.