Sisters

Running the School

former teacher at St. Ann’s Academy, fondly referred to her years as a teacher as “God’s Joke”, laughingly noting that women who vowed chastity gave up children, but when September arrived, they took on a class of 40 girls. The responsibilities of running the school were both draining and satisfying. The girls were a constant challenge, and the boarding students, in many ways, became part of their families. In the words of another Sister, “I felt like I was a mother and father to them.” It was important, especially for the younger pupils, to have a sense of consistency, so the Sisters would often try to teach the same students for most of their primary school years. The Sisters gave advice and tried to guide the pupils, both in their lives and in their studies: they felt a sacred responsibility towards the students.

A Sister, Ruby Jubilee 1964 lighting candles

The policy of the Academy was to provide structure and caring. One student who was caught drinking, during the later years of the Academy’s presence, was spoken to and guided through a troubled time in her life. The following year, due to the guidance of the Sisters, that same girl was elected the president of the Student’s Council. These women impressed their students with their strength: they ran a school, a Convent and a hospital, with all the technical, financial, administrative and leadership skills those tasks entailed. They tried to lead by example; the boarders could expect cleanliness inspections of their quarters only after the Mistress of Boarders had tidied her own room. A former pupil remarked that the Sisters “encouraged us to think independently and were able to take the consequences after, if it ‘backfired’ on them”. They stressed responsibility in the girls, whether they were young children, teenagers, or young women, ready to graduate and go off into the world.

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