Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus Batu Pahat (Part 3)
Picture 11:
Mum said the nuns lived here previously when she was studying here.
Picture 12:
Picture 13:
I wonder what’s up there? haha…
Picture 11:
Mum said the nuns lived here previously when she was studying here.
Picture 12:
Picture 13:
I wonder what’s up there? haha…
I think 2nd floor, above the teacher’s common room is the counselling office. Other than that, the other rooms are quite deserted and they are mainly storerooms. I remembered once, during a gotong-royong aka spring-cleaning, my classmates and I were asked to go up there to clean the storerooms. Initially, we have about 6 girls going up there but due to the really really poor condition like cobwebs everywhere, dusty, humid & dark, some of them just freaked out & slipped away. In the end, there’s only 3 girls staying behind including me.
We’re actually doing alright at first except that the heavy dust & the damp smell was really killing us! Then the sky suddenly darkens (you know there’re times when the cloud suddenly blocks the sunlight but only for a while). We felt so so eerie at that time, even if it’s only for a short while as it reminded us of all the “rumoured-ghost-stories”. Haha!
There are quite a number of rooms up there, like 6-8 with one common toilet & 2 bathrooms (yea, the toilet & bathrooms are separated). Guess what, the toilet has also become a storeroom… I remembered seeing a cross engraved in the wall of one of the rooms (i’m not sure if the rest have it). But it’s quite fascinating to have seen it~ Hmm, i feel like exploring the building again…
Yeah, old schools in BP are always full of stories and memories. I cant even tell you how many stories (especially the eerie, Japanese soldier ones) I heard of High school. I guess that’s part of the charm and history of these schools, aye? But I always had this curiosity of going up to the ‘clock room’ in the high school office building when I was still a student there. Wonder how it’s like inside.
PS. My cousin sister who was a Convent alumni told me the Virgin Mary statue was actually stepping on a serpent if you look carefully. Is that true?
Oh ya hor.. I went back to the other post, there’s a serpeant at the feet.
Here’s the link to that post.
Yeah, there’s a serpent at Virgin Mary’s feet! I didn’t even notice that if kevzz hadn’t mentioned! But i do know that the right hand of the statue was broken. It has been broken since a long long time ago.
Our school is really weird. Always put lots of flowers around the statue and grow lots of trees in front of it. This makes the statue less visible from the outside.
All these 3 posts on Convent really bring back lots of memories to me. Those good old days.
I spent 12 years in Convent, including a year of kindergarten there.
Outside the kindergaten classrooms, there used to have slides n see-saw and we actually got to play there. However, the play session were divided into two; first, all the boys would go out and play first while we (the girls) would do some other stuffs. Then, we would swtiched. Yup, boys are accepted in the Convent kindergarten.
There is one particular Sister that i like most. She taught me English during Kindergaten and Primary 2. In Primary 2, during her class, all of us liked to volunteer to help her to carry books back to her house cos we can “lepak” there since Convent primary school is considered quite far from her house. But, in year 1992 or 1993 (during my Primary 2 or 3), she moved back to her hometown, Penang. And this marked the day where no more Sisters live in Convent Batu Pahat. Thus, the house was vacant until they turned it into the teachers’ room and classroom.
The right hand of the statue broke after 1995! Because that was the last year I studied there and I remembered the right hand was still intact then…
And Teo, I remember that Sister. She taught me English in Primary 1 and 2 too. I can’t recall her name now, but I still remember her kindness and the love she showed us.
It’s a pity that the Sisters left one after another. Now Convent is just like any other schools.
Sister Ignatious?
I went up the sisters’ boading place once, nearly peed my pants.
oo i loved sister ignatius, and also sister john, i think that’s her name. I got to hang out in the nun’s “building” a few times, which had a mini playground in front of it. Pretty cool. The playground sessions we had were boys and girls together, though.. I would play “invisible man” etc with the boys. LOL.
I remember a few of us non-muslims going over to the nuns’ residence during ugama period.
Hey, I remember Sister Ignatius. She taught me me when I’m in primary level. Yup that the sister’s quater. When I looked at that block posted, that used to be classroom.
I really missed Convent School, is the primary school still attach with the secondary site, can’t imagine that I am in there during the 80s’.
I was at Convent Secondary in the 80s too (85-87). Sr. Ignatius taught us ‘jahitan’ when I was in Standard 2 or 3 maybe?
Sr. Ignatius is now known as Sr. Jane. She is living in a home for retired nuns in Malacca. Honestly, the nuns in the home live on an extremely tight budget. They are ever so grateful when visitors pops by with some groceries.
If anyone goes to Malacca, I am sure Sr. Ignatius aka Sr. Jane would love some visitors.
hi joan, do you know if there is a way to contact sister ignatius?
Hi Letti, sure, I’ll ask my mum and come back to you. Could I have your email address so that I could email the details to you?
Joan, maybe you would like to post the address here, so the convent girls who are able to pay a visit there can go…
sueqwan at gmail
wow wow.
My school still existed.
Made me cry. the school building is exactly the same as I was there.
Guess how long ago?
The answer is 50 yrs ago.
Oh I really miss you Convent of the holy infant Jesus BP.
See I never forget the name of my school.