Leone Preparatory School

It has pleased the Good Lord to call his servant home: Bertha Yvonne Conton, sunrise October 31st 1923, sunset May 1st 2022. A life well lived, a race well run. What an innings to be grateful for.

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Bertha Conton, Grand Commander of The Order of Rokel.

After her education at the St. Joseph's Convent School, Mrs. Bertha Conton won a scholarship to Liverpool in the UK, where she obtained a United Kingdom Teachers Certificate in 1946. On her return to Freetown, she started her teaching career at St Joseph's Convent and the Freetown Secondary School for Girls. After a brief stay in Ghana where she taught at the International School of Accra, her family moved to Bo. That was where in 1961, the Leone Preparatory School was born when she started giving lessons to children on the verandah of her home in Bo.

The school moved to Freetown in 1963, and continued growing in reputation and size. On its first attempt at what was then known as the Common Entrance exams, the School obtained the best results in the country. By 1992 and without any assistance from any organizations or Government, Mrs. Conton had single handedly built the current campus at Kingharman road with a computer lab and a magnificent assembly hall. This modern facility was designed to provide a stimulating environment for the learning of 400 pupils. The Institution still consistently places one to two pupils in the first ten in the country at the national exam. Furthermore, it still has the record for the highest marks ever achieved at the National Primary School Exams in a year that saw its pupils placing first, second and third in the country.

She taught generations of pupils that credit her basics for their world leading results and thinking. She trained scores of teachers that have spread her teaching methodologies to other schools in distant lands. She inspired many women to innovate, excel and be entrepreneurs in their chosen fields.

Mrs. Bertha Conton dedicated over six decades of outstanding and selfless service to this Country, creating and pushing the standards of Private education so that our leaders will be competitive in the world.

The Leone Preparatory School family regrets to announce the passing of our dear Aunty Konjoh on December 26, 2021. She was the longest-serving teacher of 39 years of the school till her retirement in 2013. She has influenced countless generations of pupils by enhancing their academic, social, cultural and even domestic trajectories with straight talk and hard love. Nothing was too difficult to make sure the “child” thrived. Thousands will count her words and actions amongst the formative lessons that have made them what they are today. Our thoughts are with the family at this time. May she rest in perfect peace.