Documentary: Queen’s School Ede/Ibadan at 70

A beautiful young princess was to ascend unto the throne of her forefathers in 1953, Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen of England.

To commemorate her ascension another Queen’s School, distinct from the already established Queen’s College, Lagos was conceived, to expand the scope of female education in Nigeria.

Four pioneering students, along with four pioneering teachers, moved from Queen’s College Lagos to the newly established Queen’s School at Ede, a town in the old Western Region of Nigeria. The Western Regional government owned the school. The motto of Queen’s College Lagos was, and remains, “Pass On The Torch”! The torch of knowledge and wisdom was brought from Queen’s College, Yaba, Lagos to the sleepy town of Ede!

A full school, with its traditions, moved Forms II to V to Ede in September 1951. The team was led by four pioneering teachers and Miss E. Hobson as Principal. On February 16, 1952, the first cohort of Form I students joined the school to complete the full streams of classes. This date has, thereafter, been celebrated as the Founder’s Day of Queen’s School Ede!

From inception, the Queen’s School, Ede students were blessed with a dedicated, committed and passionate faculty of teachers, caring house mistresses and support staff, who instilled in the girls the spirit of excellence and discipline in all aspects of their academics, emotional wellbeing and character development. They served as mothers, aunties, counsellors and friends to the girls. Girls were brought up to be strong, confident, hardworking articulate and yet remain “fine” dignified ladies. Girls were taught etiquette, how to sit and walk “like a lady”!

Queen’s School, Ede was noted for a well-rounded education Outside of academics girls had to learn to sew, cook, garden, dance, sing, participate in sports, drama, Girl Guides, Literary and Debating Societies and even had phonetics classes. Girls were groomed to be well-rounded women! No wonder many of the Alumnae turned out to be renowned doctors, professors (a set boasted of as many as 10 professors!), Engineers, Vice-Chancellors, Lecturers, Permanent Secretaries, Special Assistants, Commissioners, Deputy Governors, Judges, Lawyers, etc.

To complement the teaching, learning and grooming was a beautiful, conducive, pristine environment. “Cleanliness is next to Godliness” was the watchword for keeping the entire campus clean. The campus was on a piece of land of about 20 acres, with an array of wooded landscapes, manicured lawn. The academic aspect of the school was distributed around our much-revered huge grass oval, which girls were not allowed to cross, in order to maintain the grass lawn. The buildings surrounding the oval included the Assembly Hall (an impressive building, with parquet flooring), a well-stocked library (also with parquet flooring), three good-sized modern laboratories (physics, chemistry and biology), classrooms, domestic science classrooms, geography room and staff rooms. The Queen’s School, Ede campus compared to any private school in the western world, our very own “Eton In The Bush”. It was a source of pride to the girls and they loved being in school.

Queen’s School, Ede was a full boarding school. The dormitories were 4-roomed bungalows which were well spaced out, by its alluring trees from which the 3 Houses got their names – Casuarina, Baobab and Palm. There were keen, but fun and healthy competitions among the Houses, for sports, singing, at every opportunity. Special songs were even composed by the girls to tease members of the respective Houses, with gales of laughter and general camaraderie! We remember those days with very fond memories!

Singing and singing competitions were well-established aspects of our culture at Queen’s Ede. To date, we have fond memories of songs such as “My Bonny Is Over The Ocean”, “Tiptoe Through The Tulips”, top hits by The Everly Brothers, among others.

Paradoxically Queen’s School, Ede was relocated from this idyllic campus in Ede to Ibadan, in 1967, for reasons most old girls still cannot comprehend. The school had to be temporarily housed on two campuses – Ransome Kuti College of Education, Apata, for the Junior School and Olunloyo College of Education, for the Senior School. Mrs R. M. Dunn as the Principal was saddled with the challenge of coordinating the two campuses. However, the two campuses were soon merged into one at the current, permanent site at Apata-Ganga, with Mrs C. F. Oredugba as Principal. A new boarding house, Almond House was added to the existing three in Ibadan. Day students were also introduced. Opinions differ as to the effect the influx of day students has had on the general culture of excellence that was the pride of Queen’s School, Ede.

Queen’s School, Ibadan campus, from the onset was bereft of adequate infrastructure. However, the Alumnae, through the Queen’s School Old Girls’ Association (QSOGA), refuse to turn a blind eye to the unacceptable conditions of the Ibadan campus. Kudos to them they have stood in the gap, building classrooms, laboratories, principal’s office, buying equipment, recruiting and paying 15 teachers’ salaries, deploying skilled facilitators to train the teachers on 21st Century teaching and learning skills. I salute and appreciate the determination, resilience, commitment and passion of members of QSOGA.

The Old Girls, under the leadership of the current National President, Dr Taiwo Adamson (née Osinuga), have embarked on a massive project to construct a multi-purpose building to honour the memory of our late Alumna, Dr Ameyo Stella Adadevoh (1969-73/75), the “Ebola Heroine” who saved Nigeria from a medical catastrophe! The construction commenced in 2021, with unprecedented donations by the respective sets that constitute QSOGA. The response has been enormous and impressive. This reiterates the values of “Pass On The Torch” instilled in us by our Alma Mater.

As QSOGA celebrates the 70th anniversary of its beloved alma mater, may the torch that has been passed on from year to year continue to shine brighter and brighter!! Here’s to 70 hearty cheers of moulding lives and raising well-rounded “Queens”!!

• Dr Ogunsanya (née Aiyela), is Chairman, QSOGA Board of Trustees.