college aged 10 in Year 5. All teachers and administrative peoples were part of the Marist Brothers or another religious missionary group, and would receive funding for the school from the local parish church and parents. To aid expansionary numbers of students, the parish allocated funding to build a new academic complex in the early 1970s, now used as the school's main science and HSIE faculty building. However, such a system was short-lived, with the Sydney Catholic Archdiocese ordering a change in curriculum and pastoral-related development that would necessitate students graduating to the college two years later in Year 6, now the final year of primary school in Australia. By 1985, the early adoption of students in a 'primary' based stream was abolished, with the school still accommodating its remaining enrolments from Year 5 and 6. Following the influx of lay teachers and other external personnel, notably with the appointment of the college's first lay principal in 1987, the name of the school was changed on 2 April 1993 to Marist College Eastwood. This was coupled with the school's transition away from the sole governance of the Marist Brothers, whose authority was amalgamated to what is now recognised as the Catholic Education Office of Sydney, or Sydney Catholic Schools. Today, Marist College Eastwood is known as a 'systemic catholic school', meaning that funding from the community is directed to the Sydney Catholic Schools body, who are responsible for adequately redistributing the resources gathered to meet the different financial needs across school communities. In 1972 Br Oswin McKinney formed the Marist Singers of Eastwood, they performed in "Carmen" a musical and in 1974 were the official choir in "Joseph's Technicolor Dream Coat" which performed at the Seymour Centre, with Mark Holden. In 1977, Paul Bateman OAM, became the Artistic Director and produced a record called "I'm a Song, Sing Me". At the same time, Penshurst Marist boys joined the Choir and later, Hamilton Marist boys. Also in 1977, the Choir performed the opening song for the movie, Break Of Day. In April 1999, teacher and student representatives of the school were sent to Rome, joining with other teachers and students from Marist Schools around the world to celebrate the canonisation of Marcellin Champagnat. Through the turn of the century, the school has celebrated numerous events and experienced several renovations. In 2005, the graduating class of Year 12 donated a flagpole for