For many of us, no matter how our teaching and educational careers evolved, our three years at Mount Lawley Teachers College were significant, very social, thoroughly enjoyable and still indelibly etched in our minds.  Friendships were established and kept for decades. Many graduates would fundamentally shape and impact the lives of thousands of children they taught or interacted with. Others would go on to become key members of our government agencies and communities making a difference and “the world a better place for kids.”

Those that were 1970 Foundation Students are now in their 70s and the students that followed in 1971 – 1973 are now mostly retired. Our years at college came at a time in our lives when almost all of us were just seventeen years of age. A few were mature age students and an even smaller number were parents with the skill and experience of managing children in a family environment.

Our story starts with everyone gathered at Claremont campus on the first day of term. We were given relevant information about the various campuses and courses. By the end of the session, we were first allowed to select, which teachers’ college we preferred, after which there was further sorting to ensure that each teachers’ college would have the correct allocation of students. From this point, students went by car or bus to their allocated campus.

Student thoughts about day one

In her first year, 1970, as teacher trainee, Sue Smith remembers: prospective students in the intake for teaching (primary) meeting at Claremont Teachers College campus were milling around in some confusion and bewilderment, looking for others who we knew. We were then directed to form three  lines depending on which campus we wished to attend and then by home location. Having initially opted for Graylands, I was soon moved to the Mt Lawley line for which I am now so grateful.

Ian Francis said: I wasn’t really that keen on teaching when I first left school and took a couple of years to make it to MLTC.  I chose MLTC because it was closest to home and it was newer.  My sisters had both been to Graylands so I thought somewhere different would be good.

Ruth Shean:

We were all corralled at Claremont Teacher’s College. It was explained to us — outside because we were a large group — that there would be two year training intakes and three year training intakes. I thought carefully about this and decided if I was ever going to upgrade to something else, it made sense to do the longer course. Whole groups of us were then directed to MLTC and off we set, in a range of available cars.

Bobbie Kidd (Smith) 1971:

I chose Mt Lawley Teachers’ College as it was close to my childhood home in Yokine, plus it had continuous assessment & no exams… fantastic!

Neil (Robert) Kidd 1971:

Why MLTC? – well the 2 year course was going to finish and we sat on the lawn at Claremont and [were put?] into groups … I’m not sure whether they told us that M.L.T.C. hadn’t been fully built at that stage …

I listened to an address at Applecross Senior High School in 5^th year where they said they wanted a very large number [2/3 or 70%?] of the successful Leaving candidates to become teachers. It didn’t change my mind as I had planned to become a teacher since I was 10 years of age!

Rivka Niesten (Finley) 1971:

I remember the first day at Claremont. There were a number of people milling around, and some boring speeches. I looked around and didn’t see anyone I knew, so I felt very alone. At the end they spruiked Mt Lawley. I didn’t like Claremont and Graylands looked pretty grim, so for me there was no choice. It was also convenient for me to get to MLTC, as my parent worked in the city and I only needed to catch one bus. I joined the small line of people, who elected to go to Mount Lawley. After that there was a selection, which involved moving people from the other lines into my line.

I believe some students went to Mt Lawley by car, but I didn’t have a car. I believe they arranged a bus for us. The biggest surprise on arriving at Mt Lawley and being put into groups was the number of people, who I went to Applecross High with, who were in my class. They were as follows: Robert Kidd, Claire Pippet, Betty Grainger, Judith Dinham, Sandy King, and Sue Caporn.

Marjorie Bly 1970:

On the first day, a group of us from the same high school stayed together during the proceedings. Not many people were choosing MLTC as an option. As soon as one person from our group was assigned to MLTC, the rest of us followed. Mt Lawley chose us!

Looking back to 1972, Colleen Hayward recalls:

Having been accepted into teaching, everyone met at Claremont Teachers College from where we nominated our preference from each of the three primary colleges. Mt Lawley was entering its third  year and Churchlands its  inaugural  year,  so  that  was  quite tempting.   The real clincher for me was that Mount Lawley’s strategy was continuous assessment rather than big exams, together with the fact that a few other students I knew from high school were also selecting Mount Lawley – it was an easy choice.