Kloosterskool (cloister school) is not the proper name, it is more a nickname given to the building by some people in Kroonstad. It refers to the convent school run by the Sisters of Notre Dame. I will come to the details on how, why and when in this article.
To the east of Kroonstad, just outside of town in an area called Jordania is a school complex. This is a school operated by the Sisters of Notre Dames de Namur, short SND.
The beginning of the school goes back to the early 20th century, when Bishop Gaughren sent a letter to Sister Anne Editha of the SND in Liverpool inviting them to come and set up a school in Kroonstad. At the time he was the catholic bishop in Bloemfontein, with his diocese being the whole of the Free State. At that time some of the Sisters were already active in Rhodesia and the Congo. They responded positively and five sisters were sent out to Kroonstad and two for the station, Empandeni, in Rhodesia. The five for Kroonstad were: Sisters Louise of St Francis, Joseph of the Holy Cross, Therese of the Presentation, Anna of St Gregory and Anne Editha, the last one being the mother superior of the small group.
Just to digress slightly into the history of the institute (sometimes also referred to as a congregation or an order) of the Sisters of Notre Dame. The congregation was started by Julie Billiart (1751-1816) in 1804 in Amiens in France...
