The Madras College Archive

     


Former Pupil Biographies

Anne J. M. Morris, MStJ, O.B.E. (1942 - current)

It would be marvellous to start off this account by stating that I was a St. Andrean born and bred - however, this would not be entirely true as I was born in a Nursing Home in Glasgow and brought home by my parents at the age of three weeks!! My earliest pre-school memories are of an exciting childhood, full of the sights, sounds and smells which abounded in the house on the water, at Balfour Place. Indeed, for a while I used to imagine that we lived on a boat!!

I received a traditional Scottish education at Madras College Primary and Madras College. At the time both establishments were sited in South Street and I can recall as a new member of the Kindergarten eagerly looking forward to moving "upstairs" where the Primary 5, 6 & 7 Classes were based. Though to be honest the thought of being in the thrall of the Primary 7 Teacher (an absolute Tartar) did not hold the same appeal.


The belt or tawse was flourished by her, with a certain degree of relish one felt. Despite this blip I enjoyed my Primary and Secondary schooldays, enormously, and forged many friendships which continue to this day. I also managed to imbibe some knowledge which stood me in good stead for my future career!) As was the norm for a girl in St. Andrews in the 1940s-1950s membership of the Guides, Dancing lessons. Sailing Club. etc. etc. were de rigueur.

In the autumn of 1960, along with a group of classmates, I set out for Moray House College of Education to study for the Teacher's Diploma, in the event staying on after graduation with merit in teaching, to complete the Froebel Certificate and Infant Mistress endorsement In those days Local Authorities sought you out and I was offered a post in a school in Edinburgh, Parsons Green Primary School (where incidentally the poet Norman McCaig was a senior colleague).

I stayed there for one year because it was whilst there that I answered an advertisement that was to change my life and my career. The advertisement was placed by the Governors of Donaldson's School for the Deaf in Edinburgh and was inviting applicants to apply for a teaching post in the school. Thus began a very enjoyable and extremely fulfilling career in the education of Deaf children.

A year after joining Donaldson's I studied at Manchester University for the additional qualification as a Teacher of the Deaf. On completion I returned to Edinburgh and taught at Donaldson's until 1974. At the time there was a debate raging as to whether Profoundly Deaf children should be 'allowed’ to sign. Nowadays one is appalled that Deaf children did not have access to their natural language but it was not until the 1980s, and in some areas the 1990s, that sign language was used with the pupils, in Schools for the Deaf.
Until then oralism was imposed on all profoundly deaf children.

It was with great interest therefore that in 1974 I took up a post at Oxford University as Dr. R. Conrad's Research Assistant. Dr Conrad had been awarded an M.R.C Grant in order to study the 'Linguistic abilities of Deaf School-leavers'. The outcome of this research was to speed up the adoption of Sign language with Profoundly Deaf children.

On completion of the research project I was fortunate to be offered several posts but as I was determined to implement the findings of the study I accepted the post of Assistant Head teacher at Aberdeen School for the Deaf which had already implemented a total-communication pedagogy in the school. I was there from 1977-1991, first as Assistant Headteacher, then Depute Headteacher, then Headteacher. In 1991 I took up the post of Head of Fife's Educational Service for Deaf Children and as from 1996 the post of Head of Fife's Educational Service for Children and Young People with Sensory Impairments - an amalgamation of the service for hearing impaired and the service for visually impaired children. I also served on many national committees and organisations during my career, including the Consultative Committee on the Curriculum: Scottish Sensory Centre Advisory Committee : Chairman of the Scottish Association for the Deaf(latterly The Scottish Council on Deafness) : Education Consultant to the National Deaf Children's Society and as a member of the Scottish Regional Committee of the British Association of Teachers of the Deaf. In addition I am the author of several staff development publications pertaining to the education of deaf children

Since retiring in January last year I have been involved in a Scottish Sensory Centre Project identifying the Staff development needs of those supporting pupils with sensory impairments. I have also taken up a post as an External Examiner for the Post Graduate Diploma in Education Support: Deaf Education.

With regard to relaxation (!) I am a member of Soroptomist International (St. Andrews & District) and am currently about to take up the role of Councillor S.I. Scotland, having previously been Club President and Regional President. I have joined a couple of Art classes (I gained Higher Art at School and secretly I think I always wanted to be a starving artist in a garret!!) but it is good to paint again as a comfortable senior citizen. More significant, however, is my membership of the St. Andrews Preservation Trust and all the fascinating activities which arise from this. My parents, and in particular my father, had instilled in me from an early age that St. Andrews is a very special place and that it behoves us to find out as much as possible about the Town & Gown and to record this if at all possible

To be the custodians of that information as well as nurturing an environment with such unique features is a responsibility which, as townspeople and visitors alike, we ignore at our peril. It should always be remembered that today is tomorrow's past. Those who come after us deserve to experience the outstanding qualities of St. Andrews and to have the memories of these etched on their hearts and minds - as we have.

From St Andrews Preservation Trust Museum Times Newsletter # 4, January 2004

Since this article was written Anne has served as Chair of the St Andrews Preservation Trust and as Museum Convenor in the same organisation during which time she gave guided tours of the Town, on behalf of the Trust, entitled 'Walking in the Footsteps'. She has been a member and a past chair of the Madras College Archive Group since it began collecting and recording the events in school. She served as the President of the Madras College FP Girls' Club from 2012 - 2015.

For her services to Children and young people with sensory impairments she was awarded an O.B.E. in January 2003. This was followed by appointment in 2013 to the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem (MStJ).