1938 - 1947
1938
The school is half a century old. Celebrations include a birthday cake, a staff-versus-girls hockey match and a staff concert.
1940-41
Miss Darke resigns, and Miss Barker takes over until a new appointment is made. Miss Sewell is appointed headmistress. She arrives in 1941, having experienced the horrors of war in England and endured a dangerous sea voyage, through U-boat infested waters. Her headship is short-lived and disastrous, however; she resigns in 1942 and dies a year later in Nairobi.
1942
Mrs Winifred Bryn Jones, originally from Britain and formerly headmistress of Kimberley Girls’ High, arrives in Johannesburg to take up a History post to fill in the time while her husband is away at war. On arrival at the railway station, the Board asks her to become headmistress.
1946
The Community of St Mary the Virgin, from Wantage, England, takes over after Mrs Bryn Jones resigns.
They have the vision and tenacity to make long-cherished dreams – most particularly a hall, a swimming pool and a chapel – a reality.
Decade 6
St Mary’s boasts 295 pupils in 1944