SYDNEY – A former all-girls high school in Sydney will have new students roaming its halls once again, thanks to the enthusiasm of its former students.

April Holiday is the program director of a new music and movement program that has offices and performance spaces in the former Holy Angels High School. 

Twenty-five years ago, she used to roam the halls as a young student.

“It’s like your revisiting the past in a way,” says Holiday.  “You come up with all kinds of memories.”

“Even the lockers [are] still here.  You can find your name on them, 25 years later, it’s pretty neat.”

Holiday is one of 20 new tenants in the building.  She says she’s excited to be back and to help breathe new life into a place where she spent a lot of time as a young girl. 

“It’s wonderful.  We wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.  We spent the best years of our life here, so now we’re going to spend some more,” says Holiday.

The building was constructed in 1885 and once housed the Holy Angels High School, the only publicly funded all-girls school east of Montreal.  It was run by the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame.

In October 2010, the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional School Board announced it would be closing the school.  As a result, around 200 students picketed outside of the board’s offices. 

Following the building’s closure in 2011, the building was purchased by New Dawn Enterprises just over a year later.

“We really didn’t anticipate that it would fill up as quickly as it did,” says communications director Erika Shea.  “But we are ecstatic the response from the community, both in terms of support and in terms of looking for space, has been incredible.”

New Dawn hopes to turn part of the building into a new arts and cultural centre.

“There’s a small space that is wonderful for very intimate performances or rehearsals. We see it becoming home to a number of different dance studios, music studios, arts and administration offices.”

Shea says the building might not be still standing if former students weren’t vocal about their positive experiences during their youth.

“The alumni that went to Holy Angels, the high school, I think collectively had incredible experiences and are real advocates for the education they received and for this space and its continued utility to find new life.”

Renovations are also planned for some of the older parts of the school.  New Dawn Enterprises hopes to turn part of the building into a new arts and cultural centre.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Kyle Moore