Sheila was born and grew up in Norwich. She and her older sister, Heather, were educated at Norwich High School for Girls. To the end of her life, Sheila retained very happy memories of her school days, especially as a junior pupil in Stafford House.

After leaving school, Sheila attended Roehampton teacher training college, then taught at Tormead in Guildford and at Bedford High School, before joining the Junior School staff at The Perse School for Girls in 1976. By this time, Heather was Head of History in the Senior School and the Cubitt sisters were very pleased to teach in the same school for a number of years.

A tribute printed in the 1990 edition of The Persean mentions that, after a short period as a Form 1 (now Year 3) teacher, Sheila taught Lower 3 Aleph (Year 6) for many years and, to her delight, she also taught Art to other forms. The tribute includes the following: ‘One nine year old described her thus: “She has brown curly hair, a round face and she smiles a lot.” That is indeed true! We shall miss her cheerful nature, her enthusiasm, her ability to see the funny side of many crises and her tireless work as our Barnardo organiser. We are grateful for all she has done and wish her a long and happy retirement.’

Sheila and Heather remained in Cambridge throughout retirement. They loved travelling and Sheila was particularly fond of Italy and Greece. She also very much enjoyed painting, playing bridge, cooking and entertaining. Both sisters kept in touch with former colleagues from Perse Girls; visitors always received a warm welcome and they relished opportunities to hear news of events and developments at the Stephen Perse Foundation. Heather passed away in 2014 and Sheila lived independently until shortly before her death in the summer of 2022.