St.Anns school Edinburgh 1950s

[oldfashionedgirl]

Does any body know anything about this school ?
It is not the Catholic one in the Cowgate.

It may have been in the Bruntsfield/Morningside/Grange area and may possibly have been a small private school in a house ??

My brother in law found some school reports for himself and his brother from when they attended this school in the 50s for a short time on moving to Edinburgh.My husband said he had blocked it from his memory as he hated it. He was punished for writing with his left hand and forced to write with his right one.

[Millmoor]

An ad. in The Scotsman 21 April 1949

"St Ann's School , Strathearn Place. Boys and girls from 2 1/2 to 8 years. Spring term begins on May 2nd.".

So you would seem to have the right part of the city - Churchill end of the Grange.

William

[Millmoor]

Earlier adverts in the Scotsman in the 1940's give the address as Hope Terrace . This runs parallel to Strathearn Road and so not far from Strathearn Place.

The earlier adverts also have St Ann's as a nursery, kindergarten and preparatory school for girls and boys age 2 1/2 to 10 years. So did it in the late 1940's relocate to a nearby location and reduce the age range of children?

I am surprised at how little there is about this school when doing a google search. All I can remember about Strathearn Place when growing up is the Iona Hotel!

William

[oldfashionedgirl]

Thankyou very much Millmoor, that’s great.
You did better than me, I did a google search but to no avail.
Didn’t think to look in the papers.
So he was right about the area. Can only think that he was sent there as parents just returned to the city and not yet bought a houses down living with relatives  Maybe couldn’t get into state school.

Brilliant cheers

[Hibee]

It's in the 1956 PO Directory, at 14 Strathearn Place.

Hibee

[oldfashionedgirl]

Thanks Hibee, sorry for the late reply, only just noticed it, don’t seem to be getting notifications.
Cheers

By the way did you ever see the fringe play a few years ago at Easter road ‘ A field of our own’ ?

My son played Michael Whelahan, Irish accent and all ,

[Woodsd]

I think that you are referring to the St Ann's school which was run by the Ursulines of Jesus.  The Ursulines' main school in Edinburgh was St Margaret's, which was based on the corner of Whitehouse Loan and Strathearn Road.  In 1986, St Margaret's school and convent closed.  The complex is now known as Gillis Centre.  The Wikipedia entry can be found at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gillis_Centre

As for St Ann's, the Ursulines had a house built for this purpose in the 1880s at the far end of Strathearn Road.  This was a day-school and originally known as St Ann's Seminary.  I do not know when St Ann's closed.  But I believe that St Ann's is the building which later partly became a branch of The Royal Bank of Scotland at 20 Strathearn Road.

The Ursulines had other schools around Edinburgh, including Milton House, which has since become Royal Mile Primary School.

Hope that helps.

David