There are many Clubs and Extension opportunities for students as part of Programs at Loreto Toorak. Currently, students can participate in a variety of Clubs each week which include Humanities, Social Justice, Chess and Book Clubs. Loreto Academy and Loreto X Programs are extension opportunities for students that foster a love of learning. Programs including da Vinci Decathlon and Physics Academy provide opportunity for students to extend and enrich their classroom learning.
Language Circles
Our language teachers are available in the Library every Tuesday from 3.15pm - 4.15pm.
Students in Years 7-12 can work with these teachers on language conversation practice.
Loreto Academy
Loreto Academy complements the School's Core Academic program and develops independent and capable intellectuals who will leave Loreto Toorak ready to be leading thinkers, innovators and achievers of their generation.
Open to all Students entering Year 9 - 11 in 2024, and facilitated by Loreto Toorak subject experts and invited professionals, Loreto Academy is a suite of rich learning experiences to extend student curiosity in an area not ordinarily covered in our school learning programs at such depth.
Loreto Academy Information
Loreto Academy 2024 Summer Program
Mandeville Mentors
The Mandeville Mentors Program plays a key role in supporting student learning across Years 5-12. Mandeville Mentors are high-achieving, recently graduated Loreto Toorak students who are employed to provide specialist tutoring for students.
Mandeville Mentors Program is available on Monday – Thursday from 3.00pm to 7.00pm, Friday 3.00pm – 5.00pm, it provides a variety of academic enrichment opportunities to students. Students can pre-book their sessions.
Your Voice
Your Voice is a collaborative literacy program between Loreto Toorak and Xavier College and is open to interested students in Years 5-12. Our two schools bring together aspiring writers, poets, artists, musicians and actors to participate and contribute to this cross-school, cross-age initiative. Students select from a suite of rich workshops with a creative focus that allows for deep reflection and creativity.
The purpose of this collaboration is to provide students from both schools the opportunity to develop and express their creative skills and present their perspective on the chosen topic through a preferred creative outlet. Students select to participate in Your Voice program individually, or collaboratively on a joint submission.
Student work is published in a commemorative book and all students have the chance to participate in a Performance Evening to present their creative works.
Mandeville Contemporary
Mandeville Contemporary is a program that gives Loreto Toorak students in Years 9 and 10 the opportunity to explore cultural, social and political issues through contemporary art. Students visit contemporary art exhibitions and then curate their own exhibition as a response, providing commentary on the central themes and ideas expressed by local artists.
This year students have been engaged in the initial stages of a special creative Loreto collaborative project. The Mannequin project involves all Loreto schools across Australia and will mark 150 years since the arrival of Mother Gonzaga Barry who founded the province of Loreto in Australia in the years 1875-2025. The Mandeville Contemporary met with Australian Contemporary artist Dell Stewart for a general discussion on the practices of working with fabrics, prints and fibres and to gain insights into the collaborative process and the construction of large-scale installation artworks. They have been briefed and discussed their role and the requirements to create the Loreto Mannequin that will reflect our unique context before it joins the Mannequins from other Loreto schools as a travelling exhibition throughout 2025. In Term 4, the Mandeville Contemporary will meet with our heritage manager Steve Stefanopoulos to browse source photographs and materials to start the process of selecting and arranging the imagery to be printed on the mannequin skirt. The Mandeville Contemporary are excited about the significance of this important exhibition and their role in working collaboratively to realise the vision.
To learn more about the Mandeville Contemporary in 2022 click here.
Space School
Space School is developed for girls who have a good imagination, a spirit of exploration, and a sense of creativity and runs for two-weeks. As a member of the Alliance of Girls' School Australasia (AGSA), our students are invited each year to participate in the combined girls' school expeditions to the USA to attend the HASSE Space School Program at NASA.
This once-in-a-lifetime experience is tailored to develop leaders of the future. It is a fantastic STEM opportunity, aiming to send a group of both junior and senior students from several Alliance member schools, and scheduled to depart in December each year.
Prominent female guest speakers encourage the girls to expand their interests and help discover, face and solve problems they encounter during their time in the HASSE Space School. Some of the outcomes our students gain from the program include the ability to apply management principles in innovative and complex environments, develop critical thinking and problem solving, learn to set and achieve targets, and lead through influence.