CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · History & Society

Maris Stella School

school in Durban, South Africa

Layered newspapers, civic records and oral-history reels arranged as chronological evidence
History and societyInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 5, 2026
Entity authorityQ6765554 ↗
Source-derived summary

Maris Stella School is a private Roman Catholic day school for girls from three + to eighteen years old (grades 000-12 or pre-primary, primary and secondary phases), located on the Berea in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

It was founded on May 22, 1899, by the Holy Family Sisters as a boarding school. It declared a non-racial policy in 1974. It has c. 830 pupils. The principal is Stephen Ireland

The name of the school, Maris Stella, is Latin, and means Star of the sea. The school motto is Suspice confide, which is Latin, and means Look up and trust.

The school's official newsletter is called The Anchor.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Maris Stella School” as school in Durban, South Africa. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Maris, Stella and School.

Editorial reviewA strong contextual entry point for chronology, institutions and public events when official records are distinguished from later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1899, 1974—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1899-01-01. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Maris, Stella and School providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Maris Stella School”, the useful work is to connect “school in Durban, South Africa” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6765554. VIAF identifies the subject as 132604142. The Library of Congress control number is n86007453. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1899 and 1974.

Critical limits

Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
Verify next

Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Maris Stella School”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Maris Stella School primary sources, Maris Stella School archive and Maris research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Maris Stella School”?
  2. Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
  3. What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Maris Stella School” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.