Mary Kane, now 92, watched the construction of the school from her kitchen window of the family home in La Perouse Street.

She and husband Jack and their first five children had moved from Melbourne to Canberra in 1961, Jack transferred in the public service to work as an accountant in the Department of Air.

Eventually all eight of their children, the last three born in Canberra, would attend St Bede's - Tony, Peter, Anne, Catherine, Susan, Brendan, Mark and Paul. (Full disclosure: my late partner was Mark.)

And they didn't have far to go to get to school. The Kanes' back fence ran along the school oval.

"Jack put a gate in the fence where the kids went to school," Mary said.

None of the kids tried to get back to home during school.

"They didn't want to come back at lunch," Mary said.

"But after school, it was nothing to have a backyard full of kids waiting for their parents to pick them up."

Mary remembers there was nothing much of Red Hill when they moved into the government-owned home, allocated to them via a ballot.

"In those days, people who were transferred to Canberra like Jack went into a ballot. We'd never won a thing in our lives, ever. So Jack said, 'We'll come in last, we'll end up in...' Well, in those days nobody wanted to go to Downer.

"So I think we came out second but the fellow who came out first didn't want a four-bedroom house. So we got it. Jack sort of made enquiries and found out a school was going to be built at the back, so that would be the best option.

"When we went there, there were no houses opposite and there were cows grazing down almost on the road on La Perouse Street. There were no buses. No street lights. It was dark as anything once it got dark."

The school, which is in Hicks Street, had humble beginnings too.

"It was just a big piece of ground and then they built the school and then it was up to the parents, who did an awful lot of volunteer work over there," Mary said.

"Jack helped level the ground where the oval is now and where they used to play footy and so forth.

"When the school was eventually opened, they had mass there in the hall every Sunday and the fathers had to move all the seats into the hall on Saturday and then move them out for school. And that went on for quite a while."

Mary reckoned one of the most memorable moments at St Bede's was when then unknown singer Anthony Warlow sang at one of the school's concerts. Now an acclaimed opera singer, Anthony was then just the younger brother of then school principal, Good Samaritan Sister Anna Warlow.

"It was before he became famous," Mary remembered, with a giggle.

The friendships formed at St Bede's were firm and long-lasting. Mark's mates and brothers, all past 50, still go on the annual St Bede's fishing trip, a nod to those treasured early years.

Mary moved from Red Hill to Wanniassa in 2009 after 48 years in the La Perouse Street family home. The home is long, replaced by a dual occupancy.

The future of St Bede's is now unsure amid a drop in government funding and low enrolments. The Catholic Education Office has given the school until 2023 to boost enrolments.

Whether there will still be a school over the fence remains to be seen.