The only orphanage I've heard of in Harpenden was the National Children's Home on Ambrose Lane. It's huge, still standing, and now occupied by Youth With A Mission and, I believe, a charity that runs Mercy Ships to Africa. Here's a link to its history page http://www.hertfordshire-genealogy.co.uk/data/answers/who-was-who/who-harpenden-orphanage-dell.htm A friend tells me there's a little children's cemetary up there. >From there it is around a fifteen minute walk to Manland Avenue where there is currently a school. It looks like it was built in the 1960s but I don't know whether there was one there before that. Perhaps your mother lived at the orphanage but went to school in Manland. Between the NCH and Manland School there's also St George's secondary school which, looking at the buildings, would have been around in your mother's time. Good luck with your search Elaine Saunders www.completetext.com