As a former pupil, teacher and parent of Sunshine Heights Primary School, Zuhre Ozturk has a connection to the place that few can rival.
While it has been some time since she was a regular fixture in class at the West Sunshine school – her youngest child is 28 – she was among the hordes who turned up last Thursday to celebrate the school’s 60th anniversary.
Mrs Ozturk said it was a joy to revisit the place of so many fond memories.
“It was wonderful to see the little faces.”
The 68-year-old began at the school in year five, not long after her family immigrated to Australia from Cyprus.
After completing high school, she then went on to teaching college, and by chance her first posting in 1969 was to Sunshine Heights.
“At the time it was a huge school; we had more than 1000 students. It was amazing, we had large classes but it didn’t worry us.”
Current acting principal Jacinta Goldie said students have been working on digging up the school’s history for an exhibition.
Parents and past and present pupils played old-fashioned games on the tennis courts and enjoyed the tunes of 1950s band The Cadillacs during last week’s celebrations.
Alexandra Laskie
