St Therese’s school began in April 1926 when the church-school was opened at Lakemba. It was the first building in the Archdiocese to be dedicated to St Therese of Lisieux, the young French saint who had just been canonised in 1925. Fr D F Conaghan, parish priest of Belmore, arranged for the Sisters of St Joseph to staff the new school. The Josephites already had a convent and school in Belmore, and they travelled from there each day until they acquired a convent in Lakemba in 1928. The school was a co-educational primary school as it is to this day.
