Much-loved Leeds-born headteacher remembered with emotional school visit

Sister Mary Gerard - born Margaret Cullen in Burley, Leeds - was headteacher of Mylnhurst Convent School, now Mylnhurst Preparatory School, in Sheffield, from 1973 until her retirement in 1986. 

Just weeks later, following a period of ill health, she died aged 55 in May 1986.

Now, exactly four decades on, second cousins Elaine Thomson, 73, from West Yorkshire, and Nuala Wall, 65, from Ireland, have retraced her life and legacy after connecting as strangers through a genealogy website. 

Their search led them ultimately to Ecclesall in Sheffield, where they were able to explore documents from the Mylnhurst archives, view old photographs, and hear first-hand accounts of Sister Gerard from a former pupil and colleague.

Elaine, a retired child psychologist from Leeds, now living in Marsden near Huddersfield, said her late mother had often spoken of a cousin who became a nun and teacher, but the family had lost touch when Sister Gerard was still a child.

“My mum would have absolutely loved this,” said grandmother-of-two Elaine. “She knew Margaret as a young girl in Leeds, but they lost contact when she went away to convent life. To discover what she went on to achieve has been incredibly moving.”

Nuala, a retired college administrator from Cork, now living in Tipperary, added: “It’s only in recent months I even learned of Sister Gerard’s existence. “To be able to now put a face to the name, and understand her contribution to education, has been wonderful.”

Sister Gerard was born in Leeds to Irish parents in 1930, entered the order of the Sisters of Mercy in 1948 at the age of 18, and was professed in 1951. After training as a teacher in Hull, she worked at St Thomas More Primary School before moving to Mylnhurst in 1960.

There, she became a central figure in both school and parish life. When her predecessor retired she took on the role of headmistress, leading the school for 13 years. 

During her tenure, she oversaw the opening of Mylnhurst’s new nursery in 1976 - still thriving today, and celebrating its half-century in September - and guided the school through its golden jubilee celebrations in 1983.

Former pupil and colleague Mairéad Shipley, who was taught by Sister Gerard in the late 1960s before going on to work alongside her when she too became a Mylnhurst teacher, remembers her as ‘a whirlwind, a powerhouse of a woman’ and ‘one of the most gifted teachers I ever encountered’.

“She was just the most wonderful teacher,” said Mairéad, who went on to become Mylnhurst’s longest-serving teacher herself.

“I loved her dearly as my teacher when I was a girl, and she had the greatest influence on me as a newly qualified teacher myself.

“She had this extraordinary ability to make every child feel seen,” she told Nuala and Elaine. “Even if you weren’t immediately academic, she believed in you, and I always felt she had a belief in me. That stays with you for life.”

Mairéad said Sister Gerard’s teaching style was ‘very methodical, very clear’, while her warmth and humour made her deeply loved among staff and students alike.

“She was immense fun,” Mairéad recalled. “She had a real joy for being a teacher and always had so much fun with her class. 

“Even when she was poorly towards the end of her life, it was like a party in her hospital room. She had such joy for life.”

Sister Gerard was especially known for her modern outlook and compassion. As the school community became more diverse, she welcomed families of all backgrounds and was known to offer support well beyond the classroom.

“She was the most un-nun-like nun!” said Mairéad. “She had a real understanding of modern day people, even though she had joined the convent in the 1950s, and she cared deeply about the children and their families.

“Although Mylnhurst is, and always was, a Catholic school, over the years more and more non-Catholics joined, and she was always very understanding of people’s relationships and wasn’t judgemental at all. 

“She also wasn’t afraid of summoning parents into her office for a bit of marriage counselling if she got to hear things weren’t going well at home.”

During their visit to Mylnhurst, Elaine and Nuala were given a behind-the-scenes tour, including to parts of the former convent school where Sister Gerard once lived and worked. 

Sister Gerard’s old bedroom is now the Senior Leadership Team room, the other nuns’ shared bedroom is now the school’s cookery suite, and the current Year 5/6 cloakrooms were once the kitchens where Sister Gerard worked as a novice.

The cousins also visited St William of York Church on Ecclesall Road to see a stained glass window commissioned in the 1980s in Sister Gerard’s memory, and her grave at St Joseph’s Cemetery in Handsworth where she is buried with other Sisters of Mercy.

“It felt like completing a circle,” said Nuala. “We never had the chance to meet her, but hearing the stories and seeing where she lived and worked has brought us so close to her.”

Mylnhurst’s Deputy Head Kirsty Holland - who is to follow in Sister Gerard’s footsteps in September by becoming only the ninth headteacher in Mylnhurst’s 93-year history - said she had been delighted to invite the cousins in to be reunited with Sister Gerard’s story, and to celebrate a figure who left such a lasting mark on generations of Mylnhurst pupils.

“Welcoming Elaine and Nuala into our beautiful school was our pleasure, and it was so special to hear first-hand from Mairéad about the direct impact Sister Gerard had on shaping the wonderful school we have today,” she said.

“I feel extremely privileged to be taking over in September as the latest custodian of Mylnhurst, and I am honoured to lead such a historic and uniquely lovely school into its next chapter.”

Mairéad added: “Sister Gerard was a big influence on my life and some of the things she said to me as a young teacher when I first started stayed with me forever.

“She was truly inspirational - I really, really loved her, both as a pupil and also as a colleague.

“She inspired so many of us - not just as students, but in our own lives and careers. She’s never been forgotten.”