PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION

Junior School boys, 1961

Junior school boys with Mother Anthony Matha, 1961

L - R: John McCombe, Christopher Dale, Andrew Callinan, John Wilden, Kevin Smith, Robert Boyle, Timothy Scally, Timothy Lewis, Stephen Hoppe and Anthony Byrne, Martin Breheny, John Glover, Michael Teague, Nicholas Hughes, Hugh Kiernan, Christopher Mahon, John Barry, Peter Martin, Michael Taylor, Simon Whelan, Richard Martin and James Dynon

Two decisions soon changed the face of the junior school. The first was the closing in 1970 of the kindergarten for four-year-olds which had been a happy home for boys and girls for thirty-five years. The kindergarten was transformed into an indoor sports area for the junior school. A new Preparatory class for five-year-olds became in 1971 the entry point to the junior school. This change was closely followed by the phasing out of boys in the junior school. The final group of nine left at the end of 1975. For over fifty years, over 500 exuberant boys had enlivened the kindergarten and junior school. From the outset girls always outnumbered the boys. Initially the boys had one advantage over the girls: they did not have to wear a school uniform. The early grounding in the principles of Loreto education stood these boys in good stead throughout their later schooling. Loreto Toorak boys entered many fields, on the land, in business and in professions. Many continue to refer to themselves as ‘Old Mandevillians’. Arthur Adams, a barrister, described Loreto Toorak simply as ‘a great religious experience’.