Back to school in Toronto, vintage edition

Heading back to school after the summer break is always a day of mixed emotions for kids. I recall bursting to tell my friends about my summer vacation and which Sega games I had completed while simultaneously dreading the prospect of being trapped in a tiny classroom for much of the next ten months.

Yesterday, hundreds of thousands of Ontario school kids went through the same time-honored tradition of traipsing back into the classroom for the first day of the new academic year, so what better time to round-up vintage pictures of Toronto's schools.

You will most likely recognize many of the buildings shown here since so many of them are still in use. There's a common design thread linking all of the structures - many of the schools built in the early part of the 20th century are, frankly, terrifying in their institutional grandeur. There's no chance kids looked forward to a nose-blowing class (yep, it's real) in the middle of winter at any of these institutions.

Shots of the classrooms, however, don't seem half as scary. Sure, there's a sense of strict discipline, but the outdoor classes at Victoria Park Forest School can't have been so bad. Some of the creative classes look fairly decent, too. That said, the thick coats and hats some students wore indoors in one of the classroom shots make it seem like winter education was something of a drag. I'm glad I could take the furnace at my school for granted.

IN THE CLASSROOM:
Students take part in an auxiliary art class
Boy caning a chair
Health inspection by the school nurse
Boy taking an auxiliary mental test with shapes
Mimico school band pose for a photograph
Students take part in a public nose-blowing class in 1913
Mr. Brown's outdoor art class
An outdoor class at Victoria Park Forest School
Puppet making class
Outdoor classes in fall
A chilly classroom in winter
Students drink up all their milk, like good little kids
EXTERIORS:
Adam Beck Junior Public SchoolAgincourt CI
Allenby Public SchoolBroadview Avenue School
Charles G. Fraser Public School
Crawford Street Public School
Danforth Tech
Duke of Connaught Public School
Earl Beatty Public School
Earl Grey Public School
Edith L. Groves Public School
Givens Street Public School
Harbord Street Public School
Hillcrest Public School
Huron Street Public School
Islington School House
The original Jarvis CI building
Kent Public School
Leslie Street School
Malvern Public School
Northern Secondary School
Parkdale Public School
Riverdale CI
Rosedale School
Toronto Junction High School
Victoria Street Public School
Western TechWilkinson Public School
Images: City of Toronto Archives