Page 40 - Bulletin 13 2009

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Things changed swiftly by the end of 1901. Miss Murphy resigned and Miss Searle was
re-appointed, this time as Acting Principal. It was also suggested at this stage that the

school be staffed and run by the Dominican Sisters. However, by 1902 Fr. Duignam
was once more in charge of the school. He was barely able to cope but always stuck to

his principle that he never worked on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, which became a

holiday not only for the Mission School but also for the Star of the Sea convent in later
years. This was a gala day and, in the early years of long carts drawn by horses, would

see the convent children being taken for a day’s outing to the Boulders, Simon’s Town,
while the pupils of the Mission School had a day on the beach at Kalk Bay.

After the building of Star of the Sea Convent (1908) the future of the St. James Mission

School was assured. Both now operated on the same campus and in a letter to the

Superintendent of Education on 22 January 1908 Father J. O'Reilly stated that the
Dominican Sisters had officially taken over the running of the St. James Mission

School. It is presumed that Fr. Duignam’s name was finally removed from the Cape

Government School Teachers Roll as it had appeared on and off this roll for many
years.

St. James Mission School’s first Sister Principal was Sr. Alphonsus Lynch, who had Sr.

Felix as her assistant. Sr. Ignatius replaced her (no date); Sr. Rose was Principal from
1916-18, Sr. Hipomena from 1919-20, and Sr. Ethnea from 1920-24. Sr. Liguori was

appointed Principal in 1925. She was replaced two years later by Sr. Fidelis who retired

at the end of 1946. Although the Dominican Sisters held the Principalship of the school
from 1908 until 1982, it was never a Dominican School as such. It belonged to the

Archdiocese of Cape Town, and throughout the years had the parish priest of St. James
as its manager.

After the Sisters took over the school, Fr. Duignam continued to hold night classes for

the Filipino fisher boys who had to go to work after Standard Two. He taught them

English and Arithmetic, and placed special emphasis on the Christian Doctrine.