REMEMBERING A FORMER HEADMISTRESS
Earlier this week the Head Boy and Head Girl laid flowers on the St Denys memorial tablet in the Minster Churchyard beside the School. The flowers were on behalf of all pupils and staff and marked the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of a former headmistress of St Monica’s School in Warminster.
Beforehand, in School Assembly, the Headmaster spoke to the School:
As you know, this school has a long and distinguished history. Founded in 1707, until 1973 it was known as Lord Weymouth’s Grammar School and was for boys only. Where the Prep School now is was, from the 1870s onwards, a girls’ school called St Monica’s. In 1973 it merged with LWGS to become the co-educational Warminster School. I recently received a letter from the first Head Girl of Warminster School; she had spent the previous four years at St Monica’s. She wrote to inform me that 28 October 2015, a date that fell in half-term, was the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of a distinguished former headmistress of St Monica’s – Sister Stephanie of the Community of St Denys. It is clear that she was a remarkable woman. For example, in 1995, aged 80, she became a priest once women were allowed to be ordained. By all accounts she was not only academically brilliant but made a huge contribution to the life of St Monica’s throughout the 1960s and also a significant contribution to Warminster School. Sister Stephanie died in 2003, aged 87, and her ashes were buried in this churchyard by the St Denys memorial. After this Assembly some flowers will be laid on the memorial in her memory and on behalf of the School. I mention her for two reasons; firstly, as said, it was recently the centenary of her birth and I think it right that we mark that and, secondly, because in the 308 years of this school there will have been many, many people whose lives and work have contributed to the community and place we are today. Some of them we know about, most of them we don’t. Every one of us sitting here will have an impact or an influence on others, some big, some small. Each of us makes a contribution to Warminster School. It is worth remembering that. How positive and significant will your impact be?