"Sometime around the end of 1991, my parents separated. Around this time I began to associate with some other boys who probably didn’t bring out the best in me. "I remember one day ... we had some relief teacher, [and] during a discussion with one of my peers when the teacher was out we decided to take some stickers from the store room behind us. "The plan was to meet in the cricket nets on the oval after school to divide up our ill-gotten gains ... somehow another student noticed what we were doing, proceded to inform his mum, who then let the school know — we were busted! "I imagine we all took our punishments, and to this day I’m unsure why I would do it. "I've planned on posting the stickers back for a while, but considered that I should write a note as it may be of some interest."

Mick went on to talk about his memories at Huntingdale Primary School, and how he eventually found a group of friends who "brought out the best in him". He eventually got a job, got married, and had two children. "So to wrap up, I’d like to say thanks to you and the people you work with," he wrote. "The teaching style and ethics which were in place back then, and I’m sure have continued to this day, gave me some basic building blocks to face ... some of the many challenges life has presented." Enclosed in the envelope was the sheet of stickers.

Mr Black said the letter had blown him away. Some of the stolen stickers. Credit:Ed Black "For this guy to go away, having been naughty as a little boy, and to steal these stickers ... for him to send them back and tell us that he's going well ... that last paragraph just knocked us over," he said. "This guy just said it for us — it reminds us that primary education is about the whole child, and not just the data." Mr Black said he hoped Mick would be pleased to know the facility still taught the "same five values" it had done since it opened in 1978.