The end of the school year prompted me to examine more closely the display of old school photographs displayed outside my office. Maybe some of you have seen them. Leaving aside a very early one from the nineteenth century, which shows a mere handful of boarding girls, the photographs start in 1960 and proceed at fairly regular intervals up to the present decade. In 1960, gymslips, collars and ties are de rigeur for the girls and there is no sign of any Junior School pupils. There are, of course, no boys either and, unlike all subsequent photos, a complete absence of school staff. This changes markedly with the next snapshot, which dates from just over a decade later. The number of pupils is around the same (about 160), but the ties and gymslips have gone and a group of staff has appeared.
As more mature readers will remember, 1971 was the era of ‘peak’ miniskirt, a fashion among the staff that contrasts starkly with the still fully-habited figures of the two Sisters of Mercy present. I find it surprising that so few Sisters feature at this point in the school’s history, especially given that their number rises in subsequent photos before reducing to zero in more recent times. In the wake of the changes brought on by the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), many orders of nuns and religious Sisters experimented with abbreviations of the old-style habit and the Sisters of Mercy were no exception. By 1993 the habits have largely disappeared, apart from Sr Gabriel, who was clearly intent to hold on to former customs to the bitter end.
The 1977 photograph shows numbers in the school rising to more than 250 and some men finally appearing among the staff. Eight years later the man count is up to five, rivalling the number of Sisters. The picture taken for the 150th anniversary of the school in 2010 features the first boys, the number increasing considerably by 2013, but with the Sixth Form still largely female. The latest picture, taken in September 2018, shows a fully co-educational school in all year groups, reflecting the coming together of the Junior (now Lower) and Senior Schools over the last decade and the transformation from convent school to the mixed independent day school that OLA now is.
I have reflected here before on the many changes OLA has undergone in its history. What is constant is its spirit, the school’s warmth and inclusive feel shining through all these photographs regardless of any changes of dress or gender balance. We remain a school deeply imbued with our Catholic ethos, open to pupils of all faiths and none and welcoming children of a range of abilities. The spirit of cooperation between students and staff was very much to the fore at this week’s Sports and House events and, not for the first time, I was proud of how our pupils conducted themselves. I hope that before too long there will be another picture to find its place in this fascinating gallery.