After a delayed start to the school year, it was a delight to welcome all the students back onto the campus at Samford Valley Steiner School. The school truly felt alive again with the excitement and energy of all the children as they greeted each other and welcomed new classmates.

For the Class 1 children starting primary school for the very first time, a special ceremony awaited them. With a few nerves and a great amount of excitement, the Class 1 children on their very first day of a primary school journey at Samford Valley Steiner School traditionally receive a beautiful single stemmed rose from the Class 12s, their ‘last first day’ of their school years.  The rose which often symbolises love, beauty and courage is a fitting welcome gift for these young children starting their schooling journey. It is also a ‘rite of passage’ for the senior students to participate in the ceremony and to recall what their first primary school day looked like 12 years ago.

Carly Sheard, Primary School Director said, “The uprightness of the student leaders of our school shines as they welcome the new Class 1 children to the class teacher. It is an honour to be a part of a tradition that is then turned around on the last day of the year.  The Class 1 children then say goodbye to the Class 12 graduates as they take their journey into the world and give the graduating students their final rose.”

Year 12 student, Oscar Percy, had been looking forward to the rose ceremony ever since his class began in high school. He remembers watching the ceremony last year, thinking that in one year’s time it would be him handing out the roses to welcome the Class 1s. Oscar found this moment quite surreal and commented, “It was heart-warming to see all the Class 1s with their whole schooling life ahead of them, so keen to begin their journey. Now having done it, it feels that I have taken one of the first steps into my final year at Samford Valley Steiner School and I look forward to seeing the Class 1s at the end of the year when we receive our rose on our final day of school.”