St Mary’s Primary Lancefield students channel their personal grief into a school memorial

Four students from a Lancefield primary school are turning the loss of their parents into an everlasting tribute in their school garden.

A REMEMBRANCE garden at St Mary’s Primary School in Lancefield will serve as a symbol to four families where tragedy has struck.

Four Grade 6 students, who have all tragically lost a parent in the past two years, are leading the project which has just won a $1000 Leader Local Grant.

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Teacher Jo Shannon, who is running the project, said the idea began to grow last year when the school was given a Gallipoli Oak seedling.

“We’d applied for the (seedling) some years ago and we needed a garden plan for it,” she said.

“We asked the kids whether they’d like a remembrance garden for their parents as part of the remembrance theme.”

Ms Shannon said the grieving families got on board straight away, forming the SSEA Group, named after their four members — Sophie, Scheldon, Eliza and Angus Nuttall.

(L - R) Sophie, Angus, Eliza and Scheldon’s late parents will be honoured through a memorial garden at the school. Picture: Hamish Blair

Sophie told the Leader she found it empowering working on the garden, to be finished by the end of the year.

“It will be good to know that after I finish school, there will be a tribute still for dad and a place where people can feel safe,” she said.

Eliza said the outdoors had been a sanctuary for her late mother.

“My mum was sick for about five years and when she could get into a garden, she’d find solace,” she said.

Sheldon said she and her friends were ecstatic after winning the grant, which gave her the chance to honour her dad. “Now we know it’s going to happen and it makes you feel relieved,” she said.

Angus, who also lost his dad, said he had bonded with three peers who had gone through similar tough times, and facing the challenges of but were equally taking on the challenge of fundraising.

“We sold lots of zooper doopers at school to raise money and we’ll do some more fundraising now to make sure we make it the best place we can,” he said.

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