Merivale Public School: The Place That Shaped My Childhood Adventures

Successor to the historic schoolhouse that was built in 1905, (and still stands today nearby used for school up until 1955) - Merivale Public School in the City of Nepean, started its life in 1954-5. It had an unusual configuration of being split into 2 buildings. One was the 'upper' building, and one the 'lower'. The upper served Kindergarten through grades 4 and the lower, grades 4 to 6. According to alumni memories- the lower school was completed later, sometime around 1960.

From what I've read it ceased to be a public school in 2004. I suppose 50 years isn't bad for its longevity as a school! Today, the upper building is being used as a training site for Canadian Border Services.

Photos are hard to come by, so seeing the above posted in the Facebook group 'I went to Merivale Public School' brought back a ton of memories.

Within this gym (located at the back of the upper building), I was a young kid, patiently waiting in an organized fashion, sitting cross legged with many other kids filling the floor space. We waited for our animal cracker and apple juice snack to be passed out to us. Snack time at summer camp.

Also, this particular space was home to my Canadian Beavers, Cubs and Scout meetings. Many games and learning experiences related to those groups were had right there in that gym. We would sit around that larger circle in the middle of the room while paying attention to the person speaking in the middle. Or- at summer camp, kids would stand around the circle holding a parachute playing games.

Indeed all of my experiences were at or around the upper building. For summer camps, we would start and end our day, meeting at the back of the school, behind the gym. There was a grassy hill with a tall tree that provided lots of shade, we all sat and sang songs in its shade on those hot summer days at camp. This was the same hill where in Cubs, we'd go sledding on in the dark of winter, and afterwards warm ourselves with hot chocolate as a special treat.

Artistic activities were a popular part of camp time too... We would tie-dye shirts out in the front of the school on the grass. We would do messy paper mache face masks, which we would later paint- in the classrooms. And of course, we would make "gimp" friendship bracelets under the shaded back portion of the school, which had a half dozen or so picnic tables to sit at.

As I remember, this was sometimes the coolest (temp wise) place to be as the school didn't have AC. You'd still be sweating it out, but at least it was in the shade with a breeze. Keeping up on water intake was vital, and quite refreshing when drinking from the ice cold water fountains. This was also one place where I would actually wear a hat for sun protection. Hats were a required part of the summer camp gear.

I never mentioned the name of the summer camp- Pinhey Forest (City of Nepean) Day Camp. Behind the school property there was a forested area that we would walk through to get to the Nepean Sportsplex. For the most part, we would be walking to the Sportsplex 1-2 times a week to go swimming with the camp. If it had rained recently- it was a horrible walk through mosquito and mud land! And as such, one of the other camp requirements was bug spray, preferably the strongest deep woods kind! Many a mosquito fed on the blood of children passing through this forest.

Though this school was not my school, it provided many memories and experiences during my childhood! It was also the school that my own dad went to as a kid, so I am sure he also has his own memories of this place as well.