A Towering Figure in Our School’s History: Phyllis Donaldson

Last March, an email came through to the archives from a certain gentleman called Arthur Reynolds. Mr Reynolds knew that a great aunt of his had had something to do with the founding of an English School in The Hague. He assumed we must be that school and asked if he could come and visit us. I was delighted to write back that he would be more than welcome, and I told him that he would probably be in for a surprise. His great aunt, Phyllis Donaldson, about whose achievements he knew relatively little, was, in fact, a towering figure in the history of our school, arguably the most influential single person.

Phyllis Donaldson (seated in the first row and third from the left) is shown here with her colleagues.

Here is what she did:

The English School in The Hague was reopened in 1948 after the War, and almost immediately, numbers began to increase, especially at the upper end. The Principal, Nancy Macdona, could no longer cope on her own and decided to appoint a Co-Principal with special responsibility for the older children. ‘Mrs D’ was the appointee.

Over the next 18 years, she would become the driving force behind the school’s success. In 1958 she persuaded the Ministry of Education in London to recognise the school for pension purposes. This was of great importance since it meant that qualified teachers could now be recruited from the UK. Then the following year, despite the school’s precarious finances, she somehow managed to raise a mortgage, in fact, two mortgages, so that the school could, at last, buy its own premises rather than having to rent. The splendid house purchased on the Tapijtweg in Scheveningen would be the school’s main premises for the next 36 years.

By 1966 the growth of student numbers at Tapijtweg meant that the building could no longer accommodate children from five to 18 years old. Mrs D once again succeeded in raising a mortgage to buy a second building. Some members of the school’s governing body were concerned that she was taking too big a risk by incurring yet more debt, but Mrs D, who was known as ‘the Fighter’, ploughed on with total confidence and belief in her school. Fortunately, numbers continued to rise, and the mortgage repayments were met.

The school’s reputation was justifying Mrs D’s leap of faith. And just as well. In 1970, only four years later, she bought a third set of premises to house the Middle Division. In her 18 years of service, the school had grown from a few rented rooms in a Dutch school to three separate and large buildings of its own.

In her obituary many years later, Bob Carrington (Head of Senior School 1968-79) wrote:

“…without her firmness, her fairness and her faith, in the difficult years of expansion, the school could easily have failed in the chaos of overcrowded buildings, inadequate equipment and impermanent staff.” 

For her remarkable achievements, Mrs Donaldson was awarded first an MBE in the Queen’s Honours List and, ten years later, the even higher OBE.

I think, as well, that Arthur could qualify as an Honorary BSNer. He is English but of French and Swiss descent and has Russian connections. Lora is American but of Italian extraction. They live in Monaco, but for many years Arthur made his living from large fruit orchards, which he owns in Hungary. All in all, a pretty typical BSN couple in terms of their international experience and worldly perspectives.