McDonald Park Primary School honoured Remembrance Day last Thursday with a ceremony attended by students, staff and eight Mount Gambier Community RSL representatives including president Bob Sandow.

The 19th annual ceremony included wreath laying, The Last Post, a minute of silence, recitation of The Ode and performance of the National Anthem.

Students laid homemade wreaths and poppies made from paper and other textiles around the school’s Lone Pine tree.

Mr Sandow spoke about the tragedy of war at the intimate ceremony.

“War is a terrible thing, there is always a tragic loss of life, most of them in frightening and terrifying ways,” he said.

“Soldiers, sailors and airmen are always young and this is tragic as well.

“They have families at home who are worried about their safety when they are fighting for this great country of ours.

“As you can see many young lives are lost in some far away battlefield and it affects so many people, friends, family, school mates and the list just goes on.”

Two classes of McDonald Park Primary School students in grades two to four conducted their own research into their family’s history of service.

Through this research, the children wrote the names of their past family members who served on stickman cut-outs around the tree with Mount Gambier Community RSL members joining in by writing their own names.

Staff members joined the guests for morning tea and fresh Anzac biscuits in the kitchen with donated war badges from British and Australian companies displayed by the Mount Gambier Community RSL.