In 1953, a beautiful young princess, Queen Elizabeth II, would ascend to her forefathers’ throne in England. To mark her ascension, another Queen’s School, separate from the already established Queen’s College, Lagos, was founded to broaden the scope of female education in Nigeria. Four pioneering pupils and four pioneering teachers transferred from Queen’s College Lagos to the newly created Queen’s School in Ede, Nigeria’s former Western Region. The school was owned by the Western Regional Government. Queen’s College Lagos’ motto was and continues to be, “PASS ON THE TORCH”! The torch of knowledge and wisdom was transferred from Queen’s College in Yaba, Lagos, to the peaceful town of Ede!
In September 1951, a full school with its traditions transferred Forms II through V to Ede. The team was led by four pioneering teachers, with Miss E. Hobson as Principal. On February 16, 1952, the first cohort of Form I pupils arrived at the school to complete the full range of coursework. This date has since been designated as the Founder’s Day of Queen’s School Ede!
From the start, Queen’s School, Ede students were fortunate to have a dedicated, committed, and passionate faculty of teachers, caring house mistresses, and support staff who instilled in the girls a spirit of excellence and discipline in all aspects of their academics, emotional well-being, and character development. They acted as mothers, aunties, therapists, and friends to the girls. Girls were raised to be strong, confident, diligent, and articulate while remaining “fine” and dignified. Girls were taught etiquette, including sitting and walking “like a lady”!
Queen’s School in Ede was known for providing a well-rounded education. Outside of academics, girls had to learn to sew, cook, garden, dance, sing, participate in athletics, drama, Girl Guides, Literary and Debating Societies, and even take phonetics classes. Girls were prepared to be well-rounded women! It’s no surprise that many of the Alumnae went on to become prominent doctors, professors (one set had up to ten professors), engineers, Vice-Chancellors, lecturers, Permanent Secretaries, Special Assistants, Commissioners, Deputy Governors, judges, lawyers, and so on.
In addition to the teaching, learning, and grooming, there was a wonderful, accommodating, immaculate environment. “Cleanliness is next to Godliness” was the motto for keeping the entire campus clean. The property spanned around 20 acres and featured a variety of woodland settings and manicured lawns. The academic part of the school was centered on our much-loved large grass oval, which girls were not permitted to cross in order to maintain the lawn. The buildings surrounding the oval included the Assembly Hall (an impressive structure with parquet flooring), a well-stocked library (also with parquet flooring), three large modern laboratories (physics, chemistry, and biology), classrooms, domestic science classrooms, a geography room, and staff offices.
The Queen’s School, Ede campus, is our very own “Eton In The Bush” in comparison to any private school in the Western world. The girls felt proud of themselves, and they enjoyed going to school.
Queen’s School in Ede was a full-boarding school. The dormitories were four-roomed bungalows that were well spread out, thanks to the seductive trees that inspired the names of the three houses: Casuarina, Baobab, and Palm. There were fierce but enjoyable and healthy competitions between the Houses for sports and music at every chance. The girls even produced special songs to taunt members of their own Houses, which resulted in gales of laughter and general friendship! We have really pleasant memories of those days!
Singing and singing competitions were longstanding traditions at Queen’s Ede. We still have wonderful recollections of songs like “My Bonny Is Over The Ocean” and “Tiptoe Through The Tulips,” which were big hits for The Everly Brothers.
Paradoxically, Queen’s School, Ede was relocated from its gorgeous campus in Ede to Ibadan in 1967, for reasons that most old ladies still don’t understand. The school had to be temporarily located on two campuses: Ransome Kuti College of Education in Apata for the Junior School, and Olunloyo College of Education for the Senior School. Mrs. R. M. Dunn, the Principal, faced the difficulty of coordinating the two campuses. However, the two campuses were quickly consolidated into one at the current, permanent location in Apata-Ganga, with Mrs. C. F. Oredugba as Principal. Almond House, a new boarding house, joined the previous three in Ibadan. Day students were also presented. Opinions differ on the impact of the inflow of day students on the overall culture of excellence that Queen’s School, Ede prided itself on.
The Queen’s School site in Ibadan lacked basic infrastructure from the start. However, the alumnae, represented by the Queen’s School Old Girls’ Association, refuse to ignore the terrible conditions on the Ibadan site. Congratulations to them for filling the gap by creating classrooms, laboratories, and the principal’s office, purchasing equipment, recruiting and paying 15 teachers’ salaries, and deploying trained facilitators to train teachers in 21st Century teaching and learning techniques. I applaud and value the determination, perseverance, commitment, and passion of QSOGA members.
The Old Girls, led by 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 began in 2021, with extraordinary donations from the several sets that comprise QSOGA.
The feedback has been overwhelming and astounding. This reinforces the principles of “Pass On The Torch” taught in us by our Alma Mater.
As QSOGA commemorates the 70th anniversary of its beloved Alma Mater, may the torch that has been carried down from year to year continue to shine brighter!! Here’s to 70 cheers for shaping lives and raising well-rounded “Queens”!!
