ABOUT QUEEN'S SCHOOL, ENUGU
Queen's School, Enugu was founded on October 4, 1954 by the defunct Government of Eastern Nigeria. It's first Principal, Mrs. Evelyn Doris Mather was a seasoned administrator/educator and a rare combination of strict discipline and sweet motherliness. It was the only Girl's Government Secondary School in the then Eastern Nigeria." As a result, it had the best things among which were an all graduate teaching staff, large infrastructural facilities, dormitory blocks, administrative blocks, classrooms, well-equipped science laboratories; a school library, school hall, home economics block and very good catering services.
The school started with a student population of thirty who were all borders. These days, the students population is a staggering figure ranging between two thousand and two thousand five hundred. In those early years of its existence when admission into the school was gained only through a very competitive examination and an interview process, the school attracted a high concentration of brains. As a result, excellence persisted as a tradition throughout the pre-civil war years. Queen's School Enugu distinguished itself in sports both at the regional and international level. It maintained a hundred percent tradition' at the West African School Certificate Examinations. It excelled in dance and drama especially during the Regional Festival of the Arts.
The second principal was Mrs. Kirk Patrick whose tenure lasted from 1957 – 1967. Her benevolence and motherliness earned her the nickname "Mater" (Latin for "Mother") she continued the tradition of excellence, elegance and unity.
Queen's School Enugu was closed during the Nigerian civil War from 1967 - 1970. After the civil war, Queen's School's tradition of excellence was maintained by its post-war principals, who are seasoned Educational Administrators.
Right from its inception Queen's School has remained a veritable agent of national integration. The student population was drawn from all over the country. The composition of the student body therefore lent itself easily to national integration. Queen's Schools culture of tolerance, and co-operation symbolized in the Queen’s School motto LABORARE UNO AMINO: (working with one mind) is a guiding principle for unity among the staff and students. The creation of states will definitely not confine the student population to the school's geographical area. Queen's School Enugu is indeed one of the pioneers of "Unity Schools"
In it’s 46 years of existence Queen's School Enugu has turned out sets of high achievers in various fields of learning, including Architecture, Engineering, Accountancy, Banking and Financing, Computer Science, Medicine, Agriculture and Education. Queen's School instills in its students a remarkable sense of dignity and self - confidence in whatever they are doing.
Queen's School Enugu has left a mark of academic and moral discipline in the society. For instance, the School has on a number of occasions won the Rotary Club of Enugu "Honesty Cup" for honesty at WASC examinations. The School has in recent times won the "Environmental Sanitation Cup" for cleanliness. It has won prizes for cultural dances, choral music and sports The School's sensational "EgwuTorch" Cultural Dance Troupe IS known throughout Enugu State and beyond. A new Dance Troupe (ADA EZE) has been introduced in the school.
Queen's School's achievements over the years are too many to be enumerated here. Queen's School Enugu is treasured by its Old Girls' Association, the Parent-Teacher Association, Friends of the School, the Staff, Students and the State Government who collectively contribute towards making it a centre of excellence for women education. Queen's School will continue to maintain academic excellence, exemplary sportsmanship, academic and moral discipline, a culture of tolerance, co- operation and universality.
The school started with a student population of thirty who were all borders. These days, the students population is a staggering figure ranging between two thousand and two thousand five hundred. In those early years of its existence when admission into the school was gained only through a very competitive examination and an interview process, the school attracted a high concentration of brains. As a result, excellence persisted as a tradition throughout the pre-civil war years. Queen's School Enugu distinguished itself in sports both at the regional and international level. It maintained a hundred percent tradition' at the West African School Certificate Examinations. It excelled in dance and drama especially during the Regional Festival of the Arts.
The second principal was Mrs. Kirk Patrick whose tenure lasted from 1957 – 1967. Her benevolence and motherliness earned her the nickname "Mater" (Latin for "Mother") she continued the tradition of excellence, elegance and unity.
Queen's School Enugu was closed during the Nigerian civil War from 1967 - 1970. After the civil war, Queen's School's tradition of excellence was maintained by its post-war principals, who are seasoned Educational Administrators.
Right from its inception Queen's School has remained a veritable agent of national integration. The student population was drawn from all over the country. The composition of the student body therefore lent itself easily to national integration. Queen's Schools culture of tolerance, and co-operation symbolized in the Queen’s School motto LABORARE UNO AMINO: (working with one mind) is a guiding principle for unity among the staff and students. The creation of states will definitely not confine the student population to the school's geographical area. Queen's School Enugu is indeed one of the pioneers of "Unity Schools"
In it’s 46 years of existence Queen's School Enugu has turned out sets of high achievers in various fields of learning, including Architecture, Engineering, Accountancy, Banking and Financing, Computer Science, Medicine, Agriculture and Education. Queen's School instills in its students a remarkable sense of dignity and self - confidence in whatever they are doing.
Queen's School Enugu has left a mark of academic and moral discipline in the society. For instance, the School has on a number of occasions won the Rotary Club of Enugu "Honesty Cup" for honesty at WASC examinations. The School has in recent times won the "Environmental Sanitation Cup" for cleanliness. It has won prizes for cultural dances, choral music and sports The School's sensational "EgwuTorch" Cultural Dance Troupe IS known throughout Enugu State and beyond. A new Dance Troupe (ADA EZE) has been introduced in the school.
Queen's School's achievements over the years are too many to be enumerated here. Queen's School Enugu is treasured by its Old Girls' Association, the Parent-Teacher Association, Friends of the School, the Staff, Students and the State Government who collectively contribute towards making it a centre of excellence for women education. Queen's School will continue to maintain academic excellence, exemplary sportsmanship, academic and moral discipline, a culture of tolerance, co- operation and universality.
HISTORY OF QUEEN'S SCHOOL, ENUGU
DAY 1
Queen’s School Enugu was officially declared open by Ms. Ogle in what would be described as a significant celebration with the Principal and the Matron making speeches and the students singing songs. The Director of Education who was an Englishman was there and afterwards we sang the School song “O Father in Heaven” A & M 369, Part II verses 13,15, 16, 22, 23, 27 & 28, though slightly different in its lyrics from what was later adopted as the school song. We also sang A & M338 “Father of men in whom …. Verses 1, 2, & 4. The School prayer was also said.
The students had come in 2 batches days before the official opening on the 4th of October, comprising a total of 56 students from all the then three regions, comprising of the East, West and North of Nigeria and included also the British Cameroon which was then administered by Nigeria. This means that we had girls who are from the present Rivers, Cross-Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Abia, Imo, Anambra, Enugu and the South West States. The majority was from the South East. (See Appendix 1 )
The students had come in 2 batches days before the official opening on the 4th of October, comprising a total of 56 students from all the then three regions, comprising of the East, West and North of Nigeria and included also the British Cameroon which was then administered by Nigeria. This means that we had girls who are from the present Rivers, Cross-Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Abia, Imo, Anambra, Enugu and the South West States. The majority was from the South East. (See Appendix 1 )
THE FIRST YEAR IN SCHOOL
After the first term, the class was split in two comprising of 26 students in each class of 1A and 1B. After the second term, they were further divided into three classes 1A, 1B and 1C with 20 in Classes A and B respectively and 26 in Class C. After the first year those that did not do well in Class 1C were asked to leave the school. The 1A & 1B Classes afterwards were merged into 1 class of 26 for those who passed the examination and all others were made to repeat year one.
By class 5 only 26 of the pioneer students took the WAEC with an outstanding result comprising of:-
Eleven Grade 1s, Twelve Grade 2s, and Three Grade 3s with Bassey Ekpo topping the list as the 1st and best graduating student in Queen’s School Enugu in the year 1959.
By class 5 only 26 of the pioneer students took the WAEC with an outstanding result comprising of:-
Eleven Grade 1s, Twelve Grade 2s, and Three Grade 3s with Bassey Ekpo topping the list as the 1st and best graduating student in Queen’s School Enugu in the year 1959.
THE PIONEER TEACHERS
Initially, there were 4 teachers from Britain.
Evelyn Doris Mather born on Feb 29, 1904 was the first of them and was the pioneer Principal. She celebrated her birthday every four years having been born in a leap year.
There was Ms. Burgess who taught Arts, Ms. Spruce taught English, Ms. Nias who was Irish taught Latin as majors.
Later another European lady Mrs. Letitia Iwobi who was married to an Igbo man came and she later taught chemistry to the younger classes. She also became one of the housemistresses.
As the school progressed other European wives of civil servants joined namely Mrs. Vickerts who taught English Literature, Mrs. Cotsworth - History, Ms. Graney – Geography, Mrs. Smith -English while Mrs. Pickup also taught Geography.
By the third year Ms. Eme Ikpeme came in as the first African teacher. She would later marry to become Mrs. Nwakanma Okoro.
The African teachers came later and were all single. Miss. Akpom who later became Mrs. Ononye came as a senior staff while Miss. Oguanobi who came as an intermediate staff taught domestic science. Miss. Ogali came as a junior staff and she taught physical education. The school Matron Miss. Ita was also a junior staff. She and Miss Ogali lived further down in the school compound while the senior and the intermediate staff lived in the bungalows by the boulevard.
Ms. Cookey would later join and afterwards Ms. Flora Nwapa who later became Mrs. Nzeribe and would much later became the celebrated writer Flora Nwakuche.
Mrs. Chukwuma later joined the African teachers and these competent and enthusiastic pioneer teachers taught various subjects ranging from English, Latin, Geography, History, Mathematics, English Literature, Religious Knowledge, and Arts. (Arts however was not an examination subject.) Everyone did the same eight subjects those initial days.
The sciences were not taught initially but in class four Mr. Amobi a teacher in the College of Science & Technology (NigerColl) now the Enugu Campus of The University of Nigeria came to teach biology. He would later become a professor in the University of Nigeria Nsukka.
Additional Mathematics (Addmaths) was taught by Mr. West.
These duo Amobi and West were the only male teachers in the early history of Queen’s School Enugu.
Evelyn Doris Mather born on Feb 29, 1904 was the first of them and was the pioneer Principal. She celebrated her birthday every four years having been born in a leap year.
There was Ms. Burgess who taught Arts, Ms. Spruce taught English, Ms. Nias who was Irish taught Latin as majors.
Later another European lady Mrs. Letitia Iwobi who was married to an Igbo man came and she later taught chemistry to the younger classes. She also became one of the housemistresses.
As the school progressed other European wives of civil servants joined namely Mrs. Vickerts who taught English Literature, Mrs. Cotsworth - History, Ms. Graney – Geography, Mrs. Smith -English while Mrs. Pickup also taught Geography.
By the third year Ms. Eme Ikpeme came in as the first African teacher. She would later marry to become Mrs. Nwakanma Okoro.
The African teachers came later and were all single. Miss. Akpom who later became Mrs. Ononye came as a senior staff while Miss. Oguanobi who came as an intermediate staff taught domestic science. Miss. Ogali came as a junior staff and she taught physical education. The school Matron Miss. Ita was also a junior staff. She and Miss Ogali lived further down in the school compound while the senior and the intermediate staff lived in the bungalows by the boulevard.
Ms. Cookey would later join and afterwards Ms. Flora Nwapa who later became Mrs. Nzeribe and would much later became the celebrated writer Flora Nwakuche.
Mrs. Chukwuma later joined the African teachers and these competent and enthusiastic pioneer teachers taught various subjects ranging from English, Latin, Geography, History, Mathematics, English Literature, Religious Knowledge, and Arts. (Arts however was not an examination subject.) Everyone did the same eight subjects those initial days.
The sciences were not taught initially but in class four Mr. Amobi a teacher in the College of Science & Technology (NigerColl) now the Enugu Campus of The University of Nigeria came to teach biology. He would later become a professor in the University of Nigeria Nsukka.
Additional Mathematics (Addmaths) was taught by Mr. West.
These duo Amobi and West were the only male teachers in the early history of Queen’s School Enugu.
A UNIQUE SCHOOL WITH UNIQUE STUDENTS
The pioneer students did not take physics and chemistry yet some of them would later find themselves in the world of the sciences. Everyone did the same subjects which were devoid of the raw sciences, although the science subjects and French were later introduced to the junior students who came a few years later.
The school fee was #10.13s.4d and this was for everything: Tuition, boarding, games, textbooks, exercise-books, 2 sets of uniforms, I games dress, exercise books and sundries. There were no levies and no PTA dues.
The school fee was #10.13s.4d and this was for everything: Tuition, boarding, games, textbooks, exercise-books, 2 sets of uniforms, I games dress, exercise books and sundries. There were no levies and no PTA dues.
THE DRESS CODE
Each student had two uniforms and a games dress all sent from London in cartons. They were labelled at the back by the garment makers Ede and Ravenscroft. The uniform was light blue stripes and had a belt of same material with two buttons on the front. These uniforms were replaced by the school once they wore out or were out grown, for the school had a high standard to maintain and so did not encourage any form of tackiness.
The students wore brown sandals for school and canvas shoes for sports.
The P.E. shorts was a tunic and a belt accompanied with waist bands called braids which had tarcels at the end. Each house had a different color of the braids which were worn over the games wear while they engaged in sporting activities. Clapperton - green, Denham – purple, Lander - blue and Mungo Park - red.
The students when not in their uniforms, wore their own simple cotton dressesday dresses.
The students wore brown sandals for school and canvas shoes for sports.
The P.E. shorts was a tunic and a belt accompanied with waist bands called braids which had tarcels at the end. Each house had a different color of the braids which were worn over the games wear while they engaged in sporting activities. Clapperton - green, Denham – purple, Lander - blue and Mungo Park - red.
The students when not in their uniforms, wore their own simple cotton dressesday dresses.
THE SCHOOL HOURS
The school operated a five day week Monday – Friday starting with a 5.30 -6.00am wake up call. The Lights out was at 8.p.m. the house mistress did a night round and bade the girls good night.
Clapperton - Mrs. Mather.
Lander - Miss Burgess
Denham - Miss Spruce
Mungo Park- Miss Nias
Breakfast was from 7am to 7.30am in the dining hall and prayers were said before and after all meals. The girls were always well fed. Waste disposal was through an incinerator.
The general assembly was at 8am prompt daily with all standing in rows according to their classes with the junior classes in front. The arrangement was a forward to backward order in accordance to the seniority in classes with the most senior classes at the back. As they marched in and out, the music was played by Miss. Burgess on the school piano.
The Elevenses was observed at (11.00am) as thus called which was a confectionery break of scones or cakes served with milk. All students sat according to their houses. Occasionally, fruits such as oranges and bananas if there were no cakes made available were served at the Elevenses and afterwards, all went back to class until 2p.m.
After classes, the lunch was taken in the dining room and all students observed their siesta to wake to tea time at 4.00pm prompt and afterwards it was games time in the school field.
Netball, Table Tennis, Rounders, a game similar to baseball were played in the school field. Later the school brought in Mr. Patrick Obi to teach Lawn Tennis. The houses competed with each other and charts were kept for the scores in the games.
After games all went back to the assembly for evening prayers then to the dining hall for dinner at 7pm. All girls went afterwards to their respective dormitories to prepare for bedtime. Lights out was at 8.00 pm and the European teachers took turns for the lights out rounds. The night watchmen were on guard after the lights out.
Clapperton - Mrs. Mather.
Lander - Miss Burgess
Denham - Miss Spruce
Mungo Park- Miss Nias
Breakfast was from 7am to 7.30am in the dining hall and prayers were said before and after all meals. The girls were always well fed. Waste disposal was through an incinerator.
The general assembly was at 8am prompt daily with all standing in rows according to their classes with the junior classes in front. The arrangement was a forward to backward order in accordance to the seniority in classes with the most senior classes at the back. As they marched in and out, the music was played by Miss. Burgess on the school piano.
The Elevenses was observed at (11.00am) as thus called which was a confectionery break of scones or cakes served with milk. All students sat according to their houses. Occasionally, fruits such as oranges and bananas if there were no cakes made available were served at the Elevenses and afterwards, all went back to class until 2p.m.
After classes, the lunch was taken in the dining room and all students observed their siesta to wake to tea time at 4.00pm prompt and afterwards it was games time in the school field.
Netball, Table Tennis, Rounders, a game similar to baseball were played in the school field. Later the school brought in Mr. Patrick Obi to teach Lawn Tennis. The houses competed with each other and charts were kept for the scores in the games.
After games all went back to the assembly for evening prayers then to the dining hall for dinner at 7pm. All girls went afterwards to their respective dormitories to prepare for bedtime. Lights out was at 8.00 pm and the European teachers took turns for the lights out rounds. The night watchmen were on guard after the lights out.
LIFE IN THE DORMITORIES
The early students did not have school mothers and there was no form of fagging. There were no day students and loitering within the school premises was not permitted.
Punishment was not meted on the students although they were occasionally disobedient like all children; for instance, they occasionally sneaked out to play under the moonlight after the lights out.
The Neem trees in the driveway were planted by the students. They have grown very tall and are visibly present till date. The office block had in its front the Cana lilies round about. Crossing the lily meant trouble for the student. This was because the Principal’s office was generally out of bounds to all students therefore crossing the lilies meant going to see the principal which may in turn mean the student has committed serious offence.
The students often planted hedges and flowers on the perimeters of the dormitories.
The Pioneer Head Girl was Fidelia Ihemaguba and the last head girl in the set of the pioneer students was Christy Odogbo who later would became Mrs. Nwizu.
Students lived in dormitories according to their houses and there were house captains for each house.
There was no manual labor and no corporal punishment. Laborers were employed to cut grass and the cooks cooked. The students were not allowed to keep any sharp objects and school had in its employ someone who sharpened all the pencils for the girls.
Most of the girls had short hair but those who chose to keep hair, plaited them with thread.
On Saturdays, the houses were cleaned and the classrooms were also divided among the houses to also be cleaned by the students and an inspection by the principal was done from 12 noon. The best house was awarded a star.
The common room was well maintained with lockers which also served as storage for the student’s provisions as food was not allowed in the dormitories. At weekends, games such as Jig-Saw Puzzles, Ludo, Drafts, Table Tennis and Fun Books were available in the common room.
Students were not allowed to keep cash, however Tokens in colors of white, blue and pink representing different money denominations were given to students to enable them make purchases only on Saturdays. A woman came every Saturday with groundnuts and popcorn which the girls bought with their tokens and afterwards she would trade in the tokens to the school authorities for cash.
A postal van also came every Saturday and made stamps available to enable the girls communicate with their families via mails. Savings account was also possible per post office
The school had pipe borne water which gave adequate supply of water for all needs from the water reservoir which had stalagmites and stalactites under the base. Power failure was not an issue as there was an adequate supply of electricity from the national grid. Generators were never required.
All laundry and mending of dresses were done on Saturdays after clean up.
The girls ironed with electric and local irons fuelled with charcoal or the one heated on coal fire. Mr. Albert nick-named (Albert-Iron) was devoted to the chore of tending the ironing pots and minding the electric irons. The girls were not allowed to light the iron themselves lest they got burnt. They were thus pampered despite the fact that a whole lot of the girls did similar chores at home.
Singing and storytelling in the various classes or houses were also done at the weekend and all activities were supervised by the teachers.
On Sundays the Anglicans who were in the majority worshipped in the school hall. A Reverend Gentleman, Preacher or a Lay-reader in the Anglican Church would usually come to hold the service while the minority Catholics were driven to town in the school van to worship. Mr. Michael was the school driver.
Rev. Kirk-Patrick the school Principal’s husband participated in the services in the school hall and in fact conducted our valedictory service.
Punishment was not meted on the students although they were occasionally disobedient like all children; for instance, they occasionally sneaked out to play under the moonlight after the lights out.
The Neem trees in the driveway were planted by the students. They have grown very tall and are visibly present till date. The office block had in its front the Cana lilies round about. Crossing the lily meant trouble for the student. This was because the Principal’s office was generally out of bounds to all students therefore crossing the lilies meant going to see the principal which may in turn mean the student has committed serious offence.
The students often planted hedges and flowers on the perimeters of the dormitories.
The Pioneer Head Girl was Fidelia Ihemaguba and the last head girl in the set of the pioneer students was Christy Odogbo who later would became Mrs. Nwizu.
Students lived in dormitories according to their houses and there were house captains for each house.
There was no manual labor and no corporal punishment. Laborers were employed to cut grass and the cooks cooked. The students were not allowed to keep any sharp objects and school had in its employ someone who sharpened all the pencils for the girls.
Most of the girls had short hair but those who chose to keep hair, plaited them with thread.
On Saturdays, the houses were cleaned and the classrooms were also divided among the houses to also be cleaned by the students and an inspection by the principal was done from 12 noon. The best house was awarded a star.
The common room was well maintained with lockers which also served as storage for the student’s provisions as food was not allowed in the dormitories. At weekends, games such as Jig-Saw Puzzles, Ludo, Drafts, Table Tennis and Fun Books were available in the common room.
Students were not allowed to keep cash, however Tokens in colors of white, blue and pink representing different money denominations were given to students to enable them make purchases only on Saturdays. A woman came every Saturday with groundnuts and popcorn which the girls bought with their tokens and afterwards she would trade in the tokens to the school authorities for cash.
A postal van also came every Saturday and made stamps available to enable the girls communicate with their families via mails. Savings account was also possible per post office
The school had pipe borne water which gave adequate supply of water for all needs from the water reservoir which had stalagmites and stalactites under the base. Power failure was not an issue as there was an adequate supply of electricity from the national grid. Generators were never required.
All laundry and mending of dresses were done on Saturdays after clean up.
The girls ironed with electric and local irons fuelled with charcoal or the one heated on coal fire. Mr. Albert nick-named (Albert-Iron) was devoted to the chore of tending the ironing pots and minding the electric irons. The girls were not allowed to light the iron themselves lest they got burnt. They were thus pampered despite the fact that a whole lot of the girls did similar chores at home.
Singing and storytelling in the various classes or houses were also done at the weekend and all activities were supervised by the teachers.
On Sundays the Anglicans who were in the majority worshipped in the school hall. A Reverend Gentleman, Preacher or a Lay-reader in the Anglican Church would usually come to hold the service while the minority Catholics were driven to town in the school van to worship. Mr. Michael was the school driver.
Rev. Kirk-Patrick the school Principal’s husband participated in the services in the school hall and in fact conducted our valedictory service.
MOVING FORWARD AFTER EVELYN MATHER
The Pioneer Principal Mrs. Mather left Queen’s School in 1957 and Ms. Flynn took over for just one year and afterwards in 1958 Mrs. Kirk-Patrick became the principal of the prestigious school for another full term.
Ms. Akpom was in charge of the choir/choral activities.
The school took part in various competition outings which included field/sporting events such as table tennis, high jump, etc. the students represented the state in these various competitions.
Other pioneer workers included Mr. Ekeng who was the chief clerk and another Mr. Albert who was a general duty staff.
Mrs. Henshaw, a Cameroonian later joined the team as a Domestic Science teacher. She was married to Dr. Henshaw from Calabar and came to Queen’s School after the untimely death of her husband. The tragic event of his death was in the first Nigerian plane crash in the fifties, an incident that was particularly remembered by the girls because of the song that told the story of the plane crash from Enugu to Calabar asking that Dr. Henshaw’s soul rest in peace.
Ms. Akpom was in charge of the choir/choral activities.
The school took part in various competition outings which included field/sporting events such as table tennis, high jump, etc. the students represented the state in these various competitions.
Other pioneer workers included Mr. Ekeng who was the chief clerk and another Mr. Albert who was a general duty staff.
Mrs. Henshaw, a Cameroonian later joined the team as a Domestic Science teacher. She was married to Dr. Henshaw from Calabar and came to Queen’s School after the untimely death of her husband. The tragic event of his death was in the first Nigerian plane crash in the fifties, an incident that was particularly remembered by the girls because of the song that told the story of the plane crash from Enugu to Calabar asking that Dr. Henshaw’s soul rest in peace.
EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
The girls were taught European and Traditional dances. The school had a gramophone (turn table) and this was used for various activities including Christmas parties.
The girls were actively involved in a lot of extra-curricular activities. They took part in the Festival of Arts and in various Sports Competitions. They were engaged in activities such as excursions, traditional dances and singing. They also acted plays such as Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and the popular Biblical story of Jonah and the Whale in addition to other artistic engagements of recitations and drama.
Members of the European community mainly working in the mining divisions and some working as administrators came to set the stage, play music and hold concerts and in one particular occasion performed magic.
The school had a science laboratory, an arts classroom and a launderette. The assembly hall had polished wooden floor used for physical training and plays and also had a stage and a grand piano.
Despite the minor chores they engaged in, the girls had proper cooking, baking and laundry classes, establishing a strong Home Economics base. Teachers were particular about Etiquette and each spoke with voices soft and low - an excellent virtue in a woman. Indeed Queen’s School Enugu girls prided themselves with such a pedigree that constantly reminded them that they were products of a model English school.
The girls were actively involved in a lot of extra-curricular activities. They took part in the Festival of Arts and in various Sports Competitions. They were engaged in activities such as excursions, traditional dances and singing. They also acted plays such as Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and the popular Biblical story of Jonah and the Whale in addition to other artistic engagements of recitations and drama.
Members of the European community mainly working in the mining divisions and some working as administrators came to set the stage, play music and hold concerts and in one particular occasion performed magic.
The school had a science laboratory, an arts classroom and a launderette. The assembly hall had polished wooden floor used for physical training and plays and also had a stage and a grand piano.
Despite the minor chores they engaged in, the girls had proper cooking, baking and laundry classes, establishing a strong Home Economics base. Teachers were particular about Etiquette and each spoke with voices soft and low - an excellent virtue in a woman. Indeed Queen’s School Enugu girls prided themselves with such a pedigree that constantly reminded them that they were products of a model English school.
HEALTH MATTERS
Any health challenge was reported to the Matron and if serious would be referred to the doctors at the General Hospital Enugu. Such referrals were always effected in the company of a teacher.
Doctor Onyemelukwe a medical officer of health routinely came with his staff for health checks which would include checking the girls’ weight and height.
Inoculations were given to every student and all also had tuberculosis tests done. Those whose test turned out negative were given shots of BCG. HEAF tests were also done which is an equivalent of the Manteaux test for tuberculosis.
The girls were all expected to sleep under mosquito nets for the school was situated in a virgin land which was a much larger expanse of land than it is today. Occasionally snakes and scorpions were seen and once a students were stung by a wasp and another by a scorpion.
There was a typhoid fever epidemic about the third year and a whole dormitory was evacuated and used as an isolation center until those affected recovered.
Doctor Onyemelukwe a medical officer of health routinely came with his staff for health checks which would include checking the girls’ weight and height.
Inoculations were given to every student and all also had tuberculosis tests done. Those whose test turned out negative were given shots of BCG. HEAF tests were also done which is an equivalent of the Manteaux test for tuberculosis.
The girls were all expected to sleep under mosquito nets for the school was situated in a virgin land which was a much larger expanse of land than it is today. Occasionally snakes and scorpions were seen and once a students were stung by a wasp and another by a scorpion.
There was a typhoid fever epidemic about the third year and a whole dormitory was evacuated and used as an isolation center until those affected recovered.
VISITATIONS
The only visit made in those early years was to the Holy Rosary College (HRC) Enugu where they went to watch Cinderella.
Visiting days were observed monthly and adult visitors were strictly forbidden in the dormitories but the siblings of the students were allowed in the dormitories.
At the close of the term, the school always had arrangements for the transportation of the students to their various destinations. Those who lived in the locations where the rail lines operated, went home by train while the others went by road. Those whose parents could afford to come for their pick up went home in the luxury of their family cars.
The issue of breaking bounds, insubordination or examination malpractice never arose.
On the whole we lived like a family and we owe a lot to our school that molded us, implanting the culture for which we are identified. Of the pioneer class, there emerged professionals in various spheres – teachers, principals of schools, nursing officers, doctors, business entrepreneurs, proprietresses of schools, commissioners etc. Queen’s School laid the foundation for female education and the result is the overwhelming support for girl child education.
Visiting days were observed monthly and adult visitors were strictly forbidden in the dormitories but the siblings of the students were allowed in the dormitories.
At the close of the term, the school always had arrangements for the transportation of the students to their various destinations. Those who lived in the locations where the rail lines operated, went home by train while the others went by road. Those whose parents could afford to come for their pick up went home in the luxury of their family cars.
The issue of breaking bounds, insubordination or examination malpractice never arose.
On the whole we lived like a family and we owe a lot to our school that molded us, implanting the culture for which we are identified. Of the pioneer class, there emerged professionals in various spheres – teachers, principals of schools, nursing officers, doctors, business entrepreneurs, proprietresses of schools, commissioners etc. Queen’s School laid the foundation for female education and the result is the overwhelming support for girl child education.