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 School

Agincourt CI

Allenby Public School

Broadview 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 Tech

Wilkinson Public School

Images: City of Toronto Archives