After seven long years at Merimbula Public School my daughter graduated last week. A happy occasion one would expect, it was until the graduation ceremony where each student was handed memories of their time at the school – a disc with photos showing each child growing up, a few photos of current Year 6s and the year book.
The year book states on the front “Sharing is Caring” Memories Class of 2012 Merimbula Public School. My daughter was excited to see the final finished product they had been talking about all year so imagine how disappointed she was to find out her profile and several of her friends didn’t make it into the book.
These students had all filled out their profiles and handed them in on time but still somehow didn’t get into a book that is celebrating their peers. To make matters worse many other students appear on several occasions throughout the book. My daughter was so upset she told me to “throw the book away”.
Straight away I took my concerns to her teacher and expressed how disappointed I was that after my daughter spending her entire primary years at the school, these are her lasting memories (or lack thereof).
Several mistakes (including the missing profile) were pointed out in the rough draft weeks before so there was no excuse for the final copy to be incorrect. If there wasn’t time to correct them, the book shouldn’t have been printed. I personally would have rather received the correct book, celebrating all the students in the year, in the mail at a later date than have upset kids because they were forgotten.
I emailed the principal, Michelle Hulme, letting her know how upset and disappointed both my child and I were but to date no response. I would like an apology or even better the offer for the book to be redone with all the missing profiles and reissued to all students so they have a complete memory keepsake. I urge all the parents of the other students who were not included to contact the school to express their disappointment as well.
So will this disgraceful event happen again? Time will tell but I hope not for the mental health of our young children.