GEORGINA Edwards might need a larger car if she’s going to handle impromptu school pick-ups this term.
The doting grandmother from St Bernard’s Church, Upper Mount Gravatt, waved off six grandchildren to the same school, Clairvaux MacKillop College, when Term 1 started last week.
Her grandchildren are the second generation of two families, the Edwards and the Lendarduzzis, to go through the Catholic high school on Brisbane’s southside.
The family represent each year level in the school, from Grade 7 to 12.
Mrs Edwards has been at Upper Mount Gravatt parish for 54 years, and sent all her four children to what was originally two Catholic colleges, Clairvaux College for the boys and Mary MacKillop College for the girls.
“It was handy to home, in our parish, and what they were offering was as good as anywhere else,” she said.
“With the two families, we’ve kept the place going.
“But just look at all those school fees …”
Mrs Edwards, whose son Peter Edwards will be the foundation principal of San Damiano College, Yarrabilba, said her children left the two colleges with lifelong friends, and credited the school for its family-friendly environment.
“I don’t know whether it happens in other schools, (but) my kids have always kept their school friends,” she said.
“They have other friends, work friends and like that, but the ones that always come back are the ones they have gone through school with.
“Even as they were 20, 21, they would always get together on a Sunday and would have a game of touch, or a game of cricket.
“So it’s pretty special.
“I’ll take that as the school, they kept it that way.”
Mrs Edwards said her family had always been close, catching up every fortnight for Sunday dinners at the grandparents’ house, and believed strong family values were important for the wellbeing of young people.
“What is there if you haven’t got your family?” she said.
“I think that’s the backbone of most of young people and that’s why there’s good and there’s bad, because some poor kids haven’t got any family.”
