DIANNE (FORD) FELDTMANN
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When did you attend Dookie Primary School?
I arrived at Dookie SS in April 1960 as a pupil in Grade 2 after starting my primary education at Youanmite SS. My parents had bought the school bus business. I remained there until I completed Grade 6 in 1964
What are some of your favourite memories from your time at the school?
Our playground was huge. A gravelled area on each side of the school, with a few concrete areas. My family lived across the road in Baldock St so I always went home for lunch, usually a hot cooked meal, so I never took a packed lunch to school.
In my time there, I only had two teachers. The most kids I had in my grade was eight. I knew every kid in the school. I only went on one school excursion (to the Shepparton Butter Factory). The only other days we were not at school were at the school sports day – held at the Shepparton East Football ground and the school picnic which was held at the Violet town Swimming Pool.
The school concert was a big event for the school and the Dookie community.
It was a full-on production of plays and singing items. Mrs Edna Batey always played the piano for the concert, where costumes were meticulously created by the parents — mainly mothers.
It was held in the Dookie Hall with a visit from Santa Claus and a country supper of cream cakes, sandwiches and baked treats.
We would practise for weeks leading up to the night.
Our school sports colour was pink. We had religious instruction every week when a visiting clergy from a protestant church and the priest, Fr Owens, from the Dookie Roman Catholic Church.
The Mothers’ Club was an important part of our school community where everyone’s mother attended, as there were no working mothers out in the workforce in those days
We had a wood heater in the classroom. We had a boys’ and a girls’ shelter shed.
The school consisted of two rooms — Prep to Grade 2 was known as the little room and Grade 3 to 6 was known as the big room
We had a visiting dental service each year and the school doctor in Grade 6.
No photocopier, but a spirit duplicator.
Which teachers or staff had the biggest impact on you, and why?
As I only had two teachers, Mr Gilbert Berry would have to be my most influential teacher, who I had for three years. He was an older teacher and quite strict.
However, we knew our tables and he set us homework every night.
Spelling and tables were his strong point, so I thank him that I had a good grounding in both of these areas, It set a routine for us for homework at high school later. Creative art was not a strong area of our curriculum. I became a teacher for 41 years, so I can say Mr Berry had somewhat of a positive influence on me.
What did you enjoy most about learning at Dookie PS?
It was a happy place to be. There was no segregation. Girls and boys played together in games such as rounders and Poison Ball. Cubbies were also popular, built at various places in the playground, often under a pepper tree. So social learning was easy and simple.
Academic learning was generally quite formal. We had regular tests. The only visual learning was from books, the chalk blackboard. NO technology like today. We sometimes listened to the ’wireless’ for a singing program for which we had singing books.
What school traditions, events, or activities do you remember fondly? (e.g., art, music, sports, excursions).
The School Sports Day, The School Concert and The School Picnic. Some others I have already mentioned. We had a big school garden area on the east end of the large school block which adjoined the teacher’s residence yard.
What made Dookie PS unique or special compared to other schools you know?
We all knew each other. There were about 60 students in the school. We had a large playground. We were in the hub of a country town.
And I didn’t know any other school whose school colour was PINK. We had a school bus just for our school. There was a limited changeover of staff. The lower grades always had a young female teacher who seemed to teach for one year then get married.
Do you have a funny, memorable, or heartwarming story from your time at the school?
When the school floors in both rooms were being replaced (1963, I think.) The little room crammed into the boys’ shelter shed and the rest into the girls’ shelter shed like sardines.
It was in the middle of winter. No heating, no windows and very little light. Only a kerosene heater in the corner.
How did attending Dookie PS shape your connection to the local community?
I still live here. It did teach us a sense of community. Each morning began with morning talk, and often pupils would report on what their parents were doing (on farms, or in the local businesses), so we were always aware of what was happening in our community.
What are your thoughts seeing the school celebrate 150 years of education?
It makes one reflect on the hundreds who have gone before us and their contribution to society and to their communities in general.
Those who have served in the world wars, some who did not return.
I compare my days at the school of two rooms and simple resources to that of today with multiple classrooms, more designated play areas, available technology and well-equipped learning areas (IT and the commercial kitchen).
I can see the benefits of both in their own unique way. Learning and education have changed so much in 65 years. Our fun at school was so naïve and simple, whereas today, there is a different expectation of fun and learning.
LYDIA O’ROURKE
When did you attend Dookie Primary School?
I attended from 2015 to 2018. I completed Year 3 through to Year six.
What are some of your favourite memories from your time at the school?
Lachy Ludeman being dressed as a minion, then the school was obsessed with minions for a few months, my friends, sports days, camps.
Which teachers or staff had the biggest impact on you, and why?
Mrs L — she would tell stories and make schoolwork fun and not boring. During December, she would set up a tree with Christmas work in maths and English, spelling and STEM on it. I will never forget the monster word search that I never completed.
What did you enjoy most about learning at Dookie PS? (Subjects, activities, or special programs).
Sports, art van, library. Truck, Minecraft education and garden
What school traditions, events, or activities do you remember fondly? (e.g., art, music, sports, excursions).
For a few years, there was a song we sang in assemblies, the excursions to Melbourne to learn about STEM.
What made Dookie PS unique or special compared to other schools you know?
Moving from a big school to a small school will always come with the differences, but I truly love DPS because the whole school activities we used to do during lunch and recess. Playing, dodgeball, octopus, gang up tiggy and capture the flag was something big schools didn’t have.
Do you have a funny, memorable, or heartwarming story from your time at the school?
Seeing school captains and junior school captains being announced each year was always heartwarming. The need for feed fundraiser I organised and raised funds through the drought, having the privilege to enjoy school lunches on Friday and breakfast club on Tuesdays and Thursdays, being a part of a cluster school made up of Dookie, Tally, Congupna and Currawa.
The days of AFL9s and the school camps, the friendships I made were/are lifelong. The cross-country day and athletics day will always hold a special place in my heart.
Being on the relay team on the cross ball or tunnel ball team was the best, and the cheer squad will always be memorable.
Making personalised Easter and Christmas books for the local kinder was something we did, which brought bonds to kids who were ages apart.
How did attending Dookie PS shape your connection to the local community?
Being at DPS I connected with the community through working bees and the Dookie Show prep.
What are your thoughts seeing the school celebrate their 150 years of education?
Seeing the school achieve this and seeing it still operates makes me happy.
BRIANNA AND ELLEE PLEMING
From your time at Dookie Primary School, what was the best part of it, and what did you love the most?
Briana: I liked how we always had the added activities. We’d always have either the art van, the library van, or we’d have people coming in to teach us different sports like hockey and tennis.
Ellee: The Alexander Kitchen Garden program, which I'm not sure if that's still going or not, but it was always really good.
What do you think it is that makes Dookie Primary School so unique and special?
Briana: I think it’s the community always being involved with the school, and that so many still are today — that’s very special.
Ellee: Dookie Show prep was always fun. We used to do fruit and vegetable animals, artwork and cooking to enter at the show — it was a hectic two weeks of getting everything done.
There are so many things that make Dookie Primary School special, and I have so many great memories from my time there.