Loretto Abbey Catholic Secondary School
Loretto Abbey Catholic Secondary School (sporadically known as Loretto Abbey CSS, LACSS, Loretto Abbey, LAT, Loretto Abbey Toronto or Abbey) is an all-girls Catholic secondary school in Hogg's Hollow neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Established by the Loretto Sisters in 1847, it is one of Toronto's oldest educational institutions and is part of the Toronto Catholic District School Board (then the Metropolitan Separate School Board) since 1987. Loretto Abbey operates on the non-semestered system offering Advanced Placement, academic and applied courses; approximately 85% of the school's courses are offered at the academic level, educating girls to university-entrance standards. The school offers co-operative education, extended French, Advanced Placement programmes and special education (resource and gifted). History The school was established as an all girls private school in 1847 by Irish Sisters of Loreto (also known as the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as IBVM, founded in France by the Venerable Mary Ward, an English recusant, in 1609). Ward advocated excellent education for young women, which has always formed part of the ethos of Loretto schools. The Loreto Sisters arrived in Toronto from Rathfarnham, Ireland, in 1847 at the invitation of Michael Power, the first Roman Catholic bishop of