Katy Perry tells Melbourne schoolgirls 'don't waste too much time thinking about boys'

Bhakthi Puvanenthiran and Annabel Ross

The pop superstar took time out to visit the competition winners at Loreto Mandeville Hall Catholic girls school, Annabel Ross reports.

Singer Katy Perry at the Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak. Photo: Eddie Jim

Schools for children with disabilities have questioned a decision by Katy Perry and tour sponsor to give a $10,000 cash prize to Loreto Mandeville Hall College's performing arts facilities.
Ms Perry visited the Toorak college today following a nationwide competition dubbed This Is How We Do Our School that required schools to submit a video demonstrating creativity.
"I'm not one to complain but I think it's a shame when there's a lot of other struggling schools who want to expand their performing arts," said Karen Taylor, executive assistant to the CEO at Mater Dei in Camden, New South Wales. Ms Taylor organised the school's submission to Telstra's competition.

Bright star: Katy Perry waves to her Loreto Mandeville fans. Photo: Eddie Jim

"Purely based on appearances I don't know if that school [Loreto Mandeville] would necessarily need an additional extra $10,000 for their faculty when they already have a fully fledged orchestra and a state-of-the-art performing arts department," she said.

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Ms Taylor also said their school's submission did not have the resources to submit a professional-looking video.
"Loreto did a fantastic compilation of what their school was doing, but it did come across as an enrolment-night sales pitch. Theirs looked professionally done and they've clearly got the resources for that," she said.
Frankston's BAM Allstars dance group for children with different abilities also applied.
"We are wanting to develop a program to take into special schools. Most of them don't have a performing arts program at all," said founder Lisa Murphy.
Telstra have said the decision to choose Loreto Mandeville, an independent girls school in Toorak, came directly from Ms Perry, who is in Melbourne performing her Prismatic tour and that there was no interference.
"I picked you guys out of 300 different submissions from all over Australia, there are four girls that we should all thank because they made the most adorable, sweet, innocent, full-of-life, full-of-joy video – and I picked that one," she told her fans at Loreto on Thursday.
On the carefully manicured lawn at Loreto, a sea of girls in white hats waited patiently for the arrival of the international superstar.
Perry was resplendent in colourful silk shorts and T-shirt and Frida Kahlo-inspired braid. She answered questions from the crowd.
"Don't waste too much time thinking about boys. They'll always be there," advised Perry, who shot to fame in 2008 with the lipstick lesbian anthem I Kissed a Girl.
"She told  us what shampoo she uses, so now I'm going to use the same one so I can smell like her," said Gillian McDaniel, 9.
"She inspires me because she wears different costumes to other people, she doesn't care if she's different," said Claudia McNee, 9.