WHEN cousins Cruz and Porsha Nelson and Ivy Meek started school for the first time on Wednesday, the five-year-olds should have felt a little more at home than most Preps.

The trio are after all among the fifth generation of their family to attend Portland North Primary School, a tradition that began in the late 1890s.

Back then Albert Edwards and Maud Pitts, who would later marry, were the first of the family to go to the School Rd site and they were followed by daughter Coral in 1933.

Her future husband Lindsay Dart was also there about the same time and their daughter Janet (Nelson) followed suit in 1962.

Janet’s children Ben, Meagan and Liam kept up the family tradition in 1988, 1991 and 1993 respectively, while Liam’s daughter Ella was actually the first of the fifth generation in 2020.

Her sister Porsha joined her on Wednesday, along with Ben’s son Cruz and Meagan’s daughter Ivy, all members of Carly Saunders’ Prep class.

The four surviving generations of the family gathered at the school gates on Wednesday to wish the latest students all the best.

Watching on was the newest Preps’ grandfather Don Nelson, who while he might not have attended the school as a student, had a long association with it as a teacher – first going there in 1986 before returning as assistant principal in 2005 and principal for seven years from 2011.

Coral Dart, 92, said she was “very proud” to see her great-grandchildren walk through the gates of a school which had grown a lot since she went there.

Back then there were 46 students (a number that has grown to about 200).

“The whole school that I went to is gone now except for the house (That fronts School Rd),” she said.

“The (old) school building was not far inside the gate. We used to come to school through the bush track.

“On the first day I got a smack for talking.”

She and future husband Lindsay both lived on Darts Rd (which takes its name from the Dart family) and later on after leaving school used to attend Friday night dances there each fortnight.

Daughter Janet remembers having to wade through floodwaters at the bottom of School Rd (Baynes’ Creek) after the bus would drop students at the southern end of School Rd.

She also expressed her pride in the newest students.

“It’s definitely part of our tradition,” she said.

“And we’ve got three more to come in two years’ time (followed by another who is a baby now).

“We’re just lucky they’re all back in Portland – the two boys (Ben and Liam) were both away working and came back.

“Two of our grandchildren (including Cruz) were born in Darwin and one in Queensland but they’re all back here.”

So what were the stars of the show looking forward to on their first day?

“The pump track,” said keen cyclist Cruz.

“The monkey bars,” was Porsha’s response.

“Playing with friends,” Ivy said.

And Ella promised to show them all around and look after them.