The girls primary studied domestic subjects like housewifery, cookery, millinery and dressmaking. Plat collected recipes for preserving fruits, distilling, cooking, housewifery, cosmetics, and the dyeing of hair. The girls would learn "housewifery" and English skills including reading and writing. The nearby Northlands School of Housewifery (1908) was associated with Victoria High School. She, therefore, did not engage in housewifery, but filled her time with writing.