Berne sat the university entrance exams the following year, and originally thought she had failed, and so decided to set up a private school for girls, to be run by herself and her sixteen-year-old sister Florence. The sisters found premises in the southern suburb of Tempe, prepared materials and interviewed families of prospective students, before Berne unexpectedly was informed that she had passed the entrance exams, and had been admitted to study at the University of Sydney, just days before the school was scheduled to open. Florence Berne continued without her elder sister, and taught a school of six students, including two of the younger Berne sisters.