Parents at $35k-a-year Loreto girls’ school erupt over their daughters’ punishment for out-of-control rave – as students hunt for snitch and we reveal photos the principal wants deleted forever
Students and teachers at an exclusive Sydney private girls’ college are hunting for the ‘snitch’ who leaked footage of an out-of-control ‘rave’ on muck-up day.
And finding the leaker isn’t the only thing causing a headache for staff at Loreto Kirribilli, a Catholic school on Sydney’s Lower North Shore where fees reach $35,000.
They’re also facing backlash from parents over what’s seen as harsh punishment for the girls’ role in the unsanctioned dance party – and grappling with how to handle doctored images of senior staff that emerged in the aftermath.
On Thursday, we published extraordinary photos and video of Year 12 students going wild during their end-of-year party.
The girls barricaded themselves in the bathrooms, damaged toilets, and later mocked the teachers who tried to stop them using crude AI-generated imagery that was circulated among students on Snapchat.
About 130 girls were sent home in disgrace – a move that upset some parents who found the punishment to be excessively harsh, especially given Loreto’s strong anti-suspension and expulsion policies in previous years.
There was even talk of cancelling Friday’s graduation ceremony, though school authorities later backed off this alleged threat and it went ahead as scheduled.
Previous graduations have seen schoolgirls crowned with white flower headbands, before attending mass with their parents followed by a special graduation dinner.
Students and teachers at an exclusive Sydney private girls’ college are hunting for the ‘snitch’ who leaked footage of an out-of-control ‘rave’ on muck-up day. (Pictured: Loreto Kirribilli students barricade themselves into the school bathroom with a locker)
The unsanctioned dance party began in the common room (pictured). When it was shut down, the girls moved to the bathroom, where a toilet was later reportedly damaged
Principal Dr Nicole Archard sent 130 Year 12 girls home as punishment and then cancelled on-campus classes the next day. Some parents considered this an excessively harsh punishment
The fallout since the raucous dance party at the normally strict private college brought the school to its knees earlier this week.
During the ruckus, which began in the Loreto common room at about 10am, a throng of girls stomped and rocked to Last Friday Night by Katy Perry. When staff tried to shut them down, they escaped to the girls’ toilets.
Laughing as they livestreamed their despairing teachers pleading for calm, the girls dragged a massive locker across a doorway to block access to the bathroom.
Frantic teachers decamped to the adjacent disabled toilet where, poking their heads from above a partition, they urged the girls to stop.
Daily Mail understands Tuesday’s rave aimed to break a previous 22-minute record in a Year 12 tradition dating back over a decade, which had never been so wild before.
Once the girls were brought to heel, the principal sent home most of Year 12. A former student told Daily Mail this excluded ‘a few nerds who didn’t participate in the rave’.
Dr Archard then cancelled all of Loreto’s on-campus classes on Wednesday, declaring the untamed antics ‘unsafe and disrespectful’ and that they had put hundreds of other pupils and teachers ‘at risk’.
Since then, parents have taken to social media to decry the principal’s response, one saying it was ‘ridiculous and OTT’ and another questioning ‘what exactly was unsafe… or is this merely teenagers letting off a bit of steam?’
Some girls mocked the teachers who tried to stop them using crude AI-generated imagery (above) that was circulated on Snapchat. This faked image shows Principal Archard wearing a bra over her T-shirt while partying with the girls. In reality, she sent 130 students home as punishment
Despite all the chaos of the day, we can reveal that it was the fake AI images of Dr Archard and her deputy Romalina Rocca (above) that caused the most consternation behind the scenes
There is also talk that several remorseful students are already raising money for repairs to what may merely be ‘one broken toilet seat’. In response to this, one Loreto Kirribilli parent responded that ‘the toilets needed replacing four years ago’.
If the school doesn’t accept the money, the Loreto graduates plan to donate it to charity, a parent said.
One mother declared the school’s response was ‘absolutely an overreaction. The girls just want to have fun… they are being frowned upon [during] what most schools call muck-up day. So much for female empowerment!’
While footage of the girls running riot is no doubt embarrassing for the strait-laced school – where students wear knee-length uniforms, tied-back hair, and no make-up, earrings or jewellery – we can reveal the AI-generated images of Dr Archard and Deputy Principal Romalina Rocca caused the most consternation behind the scenes.
After our story was published on Thursday afternoon, a corporate public relations outfit engaged by the school sought to have the faces of the senior staff blurred out in those images made by students.
We declined the request because the photos, while fake and perhaps unflattering, were newsworthy in the context of the story.
As for the students themselves, their main concern right now is finding out the ‘snitch’ who leaked the footage to the Daily Mail.
One former student told us: ‘It is a running thing when an LK girl rats out a student for breaking the rules, they are dubbed “The Snitch”. Everyone now is asking, “Who dobbed us in to the DM?”‘
Deputy Principal Romalina Rocca is filmed by a student trying to restore order during the ‘rave’
The harbourside school was brought to its knees earlier this week when Year 12 girls staged a rave which spiralled out of control, but some maintain it was just ‘teenagers letting off steam’
Frantic teachers decamped to the adjacent disabled toilets where they poked their heads from above a partition and urged the girls to stop
Dr Archard, who has five degrees including a PhD, has been a fervent promoter of empowering young women during her career at five different elite girls’ schools.
However, she loathes social media, students say.
In a 2022 Today show interview about social media’s negative impacts on body image and face-to-face interaction, Dr Archard said Loreto had banned phones during the school day.
She insisted the ‘girls actively wanted [phones] taken away’.
In the muck-up day videos, the Year 12 girls can be seen with their phones filming the rave in the common room and the bathroom. The videos have reportedly been shared widely outside Loreto Kirribilli.
In response to our story, one former student posted on Facebook that she thought the rave ‘was hilarious… I probably would’ve been in there dancing with them.’
Dr Archard’s dimmer view of proceedings is reflected in the letter she sent to parents, saying their daughters’ actions had ’caused damage to property and disrupted the learning environment’.
‘Such behaviour is taken very seriously, as it undermines the respectful, safe and caring culture we strive to maintain at Loreto Kirribilli,’ she wrote.
‘We ask that you take the opportunity to discuss this incident with your daughter and reinforce the importance of personal responsibility, respect for self and others, and care for our school environment.’
