SJP recently explored the very foundations of our school and the charisms left by the Mercy Sisters and the De La Salle Brothers through an immersive journey back in time. These orders were founded by Catherine McAuley and St John Baptist De La Salle, respectively, many years ago, so it was nice to revisit the very beginnings of how these orders were established and what the Catholic schools in Dubbo used to look like prior to 1969, the year St John’s Primary School began.

Through Liturgy, prayer, classroom craft, ‘old-school’ playground games and the kind support of former De La Salle and Mercy student alumni who spoke to each of our grades about their experiences and memories of their Catholic schooling in Dubbo, our staff and students learnt a lot! A huge thank you to John Taylor, Doug Butcherine, Pauline Walkom and Kerry Ryan for taking the time to teach our students about their experiences of school many years ago.