The school turns 50 in 1938 and life has settled into a routine, although there are some anomalies. Because space is cramped, for instance, lessons are constantly interrupted by bells – some ringing for the juniors and some for the seniors, all at different times.

In this year, live-in teachers move out of the old wood-and-iron building and into a lovely new staff house. These teachers, mostly from England and Scotland, take full advantage of the holidays to explore other parts of South Africa and British colonial Africa. The recently established Kruger National Park becomes popular, and Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) is also a well-frequented destination.

At weekends, there are concerts and talks, organised by Miss Darke, although if the girls were given a choice, they would have been listening to jazz. The teachers also attend, but they manage to escape occasionally to visit town or the cinema, walking to and from the bus in Orchards. At night, they are accompanied by the school’s Zulu night watchman. Sometimes they join the daunting Miss Darke for a picnic in the countryside.

In 1938 the school acquires its iconic mosaic of the Annunciation which Miss Darke has commissioned as a gift for the school. The door over which it is placed comes to be called the Angel Door.