By Kirrily McDermott
There’s a new saint on the block at St. Michael’s Catholic Primary School Meadowbank… well on the brick wall to be exact.
To celebrate 100 years of Catholic education at St Michael’s, a new spray painted mural of the school and parish patron saint was completed last week.
Local artist Sam McAleer of @smackas worked on the mural of St Michael the Archangel over two days using over twenty cans of spray paint.
The impressive artwork was inspired by an original design by one of St Michael’s Year 5 students, Maiia, whose artwork won 1st place in a centenary art competition earlier in the year.
“For Principal Alison Felici, the mural is not only a way to commemorate the school’s centenary, but also a practical way to inspire devotion to St Michael the Archangel for a new generation of students.”
The process of seeing the brick wall being transformed into sanity street art was mesmerising for the whole school community to watch, but none more than for Maiia, whose original A4 pencil and paper artwork has found new prominence in mural form.
In the bottom right hand corner of the mural is the tag Maiia K x @smackas, a permanent reminder of the inspiring collaboration between a talented Year 5 student and the street artist.
For Principal Alison Felici, the mural is not only a way to commemorate the school’s centenary, but also a practical way to inspire devotion to St Michael the Archangel for a new generation of students.
“I hope that this beautiful mural helps our students to connect to St Michael the Archangel in a very personal way. I hope it helps them see St Michael’s isn’t just a school name, but reminds them of the powerful Archangel Michael who can protect us and guide us when we need it most”, Ms Felici said.
Over the year, St Michael’s has celebrated its centenary in many ways, including a Centenary fun day where students dressed up in olden day clothes and enjoyed school yard games and dances from the 1920s.
This year St Michael’s welcomed a new wellbeing dog, aptly named “Micky”- one of two Sydney Catholic Schools selected to pilot the use of wellbeing dogs.
Last week 44 students also took part in a Centenary themed Newman Symposium, where students involved in the school’s Newman Gifted Education program researched topics that were important to them and they believe will also be important for the world to know about in 100 years time.
Past and present students, parents, staff, clergy, and religious connected to St Michael’s are also warmly invited to a special Centenary Mass on Thursday 17 November at 12pm followed by Open Classrooms and tours of the newly opened learning spaces.
“In the bottom right hand corner of the mural is the tag Maiia K x @smackas, a permanent reminder of the inspiring collaboration between a talented Year 5 student and the street artist.”
There will also be a Centenary Cocktail Party at Ryde Parramatta Golf Club on Friday 18 November and again we would love for those associated with our school to join us to celebrate this outstanding milestone.
Tickets to the Cocktail Party (18 plus) can be purchased here:
https://www.trybooking.com/CBHWW
Please follow our facebook page and instagram page for more photos and videos as our school celebrates this important milestone.
Kirrily McDermott is a Family Educator at St Michael’s Primary, Meadowbank