Mt Lockyer Primary School breaks huge drought with sports carnival double

Mt Lockyer Primary School secured a remarkable underdog feat to break a huge drought in the inter-school junior and senior school sports carnivals last month. It is the first time in the 52-year history of the junior school sports carnival the school has won and 38 years since the senior school has triumphed against the seven other participating schools. Physical education teacher Nathan Small said while the school had struggled over the past decade, the past two years had seen a vast improvement in the students. “We’ve been beaten up a fair bit over the last 15 or so years,” Mr Small said. “But last year and the year before we got second, so we were knocking on the door and it has now all come together.” Mr Small said the school had talented individuals but it was their team performances that galvanised their success. “We have got some very talented kids at the school, in particular Year 6 boy Cory Jarman who seemed to win everything,” he said. “But our teams were really good across the board and they were pretty awesome from start to finish. “We did a few weeks of training in the lead-up to the carnival where we practised our team games. “We were working on our baton changes, our running, jumps and throws and touching up everyone who’s been selected.” The carnival also marked the first time the school wore their new Noongar sports shirt, which was designed by former student Doug Roberts. “They represent our education journey as a school coming through together,” Mr Small said. He said the school has already set its sights on going back-to-back at next year’s carnivals.