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Miss Slater
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Author:  Rosemary [ Sat Apr 02, 2011 11:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Miss Slater
I hope people don’t mind me starting a topic and that I’m not repeating anything recent.

I’ve always enjoyed what little we see of the character of Miss Slater (particularly her simply scrawling ‘Ghastly!’ across Lavender’s Maths entrance paper) and I think she is quite interesting for a number of reasons.

She seems unusual to me in that she’s a member of staff who isn’t an absolute failure – like Matrons Webb and Besley – but neither does she appear to integrate completely into the Chalet school ethos.

I’ve only recently acquired Changes to the Chalet School and I was pleased that we see quite a bit of her. (Don’t worry I won’t quote all the instances!) In particular, I enjoyed hearing in her own words why she wouldn’t be accompanying the school to Switzerland:

Quote:
“I suppose it hasn’t dawned on you that I may have other reasons besides hating foreign languages? Where I’m going, I shall be head of the maths department and can run it just to suit myself and that’ll be a change after being just an assistant mistress! […] I’m thirty-five now. If ever I want to get a post as Head somewhere, I’ve got to make a change. And though I enjoy a holiday abroad, I’m not so mad on the Continent as to want to spend most of my time there. I’ve been here ten years and I feel I’m getting into a rut. If I don’t make the break now, I never shall. […] I’ve been happy here and I’ll always be interested in what happens; but I want to be on my own.”

To me, this seems a perfectly reasonable and realistic explanation – I can’t believe that all these young, competent mistresses were happy at the thought of sitting at the bottom of the career ladder beneath all those ‘foundation stones’ cheerfully ensconced in the senior positions!

I can also see why she resented it when the language days were revived – she joined the school when it was in England and didn’t have them and it might have been a shock to someone who never claimed to be fluent in languages to teach lessons in them.

What I would like to ask people, (besides their general opnions of Miss Slater, which I would be interested to hear), is why they think EBD wrote out Miss Slater’s character. Does it show some kind of authorial disapproval? EBD does like to change the staff to a limited extent, but her usual practice is to marry off staff when getting rid of them. Is Miss Slater EBD’s depiction of a ‘career woman’? Personally Miss Slater reminds me of Miss Wilson to some extent, could this have been a reason for getting rid of her, to introduce a more varied character type?

Hope this rambling post makes sense!
Author:  Eleanore [ Sun Apr 03, 2011 1:23 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Not that I'm exactly answering any of your questions here, but something that always interested me about Miss Slater was the bit in whichever book it was (I can't remember, and I've flicked through a couple and can't seem to find it) where Biddy offers her addresses of people she can stay with to improve her languages, and it says something about Miss Slater still regarding Biddy as the nuisance of a Middle she used to have to teach.

It always seemed a bit odd to me the way Old Girls would come back to teach and seem to instantly fit in on the staff with no particular adjustment necessary between them and the staff that used to teach them. So I found it interesting to get this different view from Miss Slater's perspective.

I also found it interesting that she really disliked Margot Maynard - I know most of the staff found young Margot a nuisance at times, but I think Miss Slater's the only one who is shown as actively disliking her personally - although I think this was intended on EBD's behalf more as a criticism of Miss Slater than of Margot!
Author:  KB [ Sun Apr 03, 2011 1:41 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Eleanore wrote:
Not that I'm exactly answering any of your questions here, but something that always interested me about Miss Slater was the bit in whichever book it was (I can't remember, and I've flicked through a couple and can't seem to find it) where Biddy offers her addresses of people she can stay with to improve her languages, and it says something about Miss Slater still regarding Biddy as the nuisance of a Middle she used to have to teach.


It's in Carola:

Quote:
‘You can keep the German for all of me,’ Miss Slater said bluntly. ‘I’m one of the people who only knew enough to pass exams. When school ended I tossed my German grammar aside with thankfulness. I’ve always hated it, and I wish to goodness it hadn’t occurred to anyone to renew it here. I can tell you, the kids have all my sympathy. It takes me all my time to manage enough to teach anything on German days, and when I can manage it I set them tests and exercises to work out.’

Biddy, who had always had a gift for languages, stared. ‘But it’s an easy enough language to learn,’ she argued. ‘Look here, what you want to spend a holiday in Germany or Austria with the natives. You would soon pick it up then. Why don’t ye? I can give ye a half a dozen addresses if that’s all.’

Miss Slater looked coldly at her. Biddy O’Ryan might be a mistress at the School now, but the maths mistress still inclined to regard her as one of the girls who had been a regular nuisance in maths lessons. Hilary Burn, who had left the School before Miss Slater had joined it, saw what was in the latter’s eye and came to the rescue.


My feeling is that EBD mixed up her ages here. Miss Slater doesn't join the school until the war years, and Biddy is ten when they find her so that she has to be at least fifteen, if not sixteen, by the time Miss Slater is teaching her. I can't imagine a fifteen-year-old, presumably Senior, being a regular nuisance and getting away with it. After all, Goes To It is the same book where that group, apart from Betty, all begin to grow up and mature. I'm not sure Miss Slater would have had many instances of nuisance-like behaviour to recall.
Author:  jmc [ Sun Apr 03, 2011 5:33 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Eleanore wrote:
It always seemed a bit odd to me the way Old Girls would come back to teach and seem to instantly fit in on the staff with no particular adjustment necessary between them and the staff that used to teach them.

At my school we have four or five people currently on staff who were old girls and we also regularly get ex students coming in as student teachers. I think they do find it odd for a little while but they settle down pretty quickly. They face different problems to other new staff in that we do remember when they were students but unlike other new staff they do have some understanding of the way the school is run, even if it is from a student perspective.

So I can understand where Pam Slater is coming from in regard to these staff. Also I can understand why she want to make the break. With the school leaving it was a logical time to leave. She never hid the fact that she didn't like languages and that fact that languages were such a priority in the school and would become more so would just make the decision easier.
Author:  Alison H [ Sun Apr 03, 2011 7:18 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
The scene when she says she's leaving's interesting. I hate the way Peggy Burnett and the others tell her she's an idiot and mock her perfectly sensible reasons for wanting to move on. She's been offered a promotion, it's near her home town where she presumably has family and friends, and she doesn't want to move to Switzerland because can't speak French or German that well. However, it fits in with the way that the staff couldn't cope with Miss Bubb suggesting that the CS's ways might not be the be all and end all: a lot of them, especially those who were Old Girls, are so institutionalised that they can't cope with the idea of anyone not wanting to do things "their" way, which is something that happens in RL too. With Miss Slater, though, Joey intervenes, and doesn't exactly take her side but at least accepts that she's got a point, which suggests that EBD wasn't entirely condemning the decision.

I think Miss Slater and Phil Craven are similar characters: they don't really fit in and they don't really get on with the author-approved characters, but they make life interesting precisely because of that. Maybe they were both removed so that everything in the garden could be rosy for the move to Switzerland. Phil's age group take centre stage in the first few Swiss books and having Phil around as the Gang's nemesis would've been pretty good, IMHO :D. Then again, EBD must've been making some sort of point or she could just've said that any character she wanted to get rid of was going to Carnbach instead of the Oberland.
Author:  julieanne1811 [ Sun Apr 03, 2011 10:40 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Rosemary wrote:
I can also see why she resented it when the language days were revived – she joined the school when it was in England and didn’t have them and it might have been a shock to someone who never claimed to be fluent in languages to teach lessons in them.


Do you know - this had never occured to me before. And you're absolutely right, of course. School-learnt languages rarely equip one to do much more than get by in a language, so the thought of having to use very specific vocabulary to teach maths would have been a bit of a nightmare.

And that makes me wonder - if this happened in RL, would the CS have blithely said that it was going to transplant to Switzerland, and that Mistresses had to teach in French and German as well as English - and not have done some kind of assessment to see if the Staff were up to the new requirements?

There's no talk at all about whether or not staff would be able to meet the new ways of doing things, or any question about who can go. There's this assumption that the present staff will all go.

In RL I can see an institution making the announcement that it's going to another country and will be recruiting for staff explictly for that place, that present staff can apply to go there but would have to meet the required standards, and that those who didn't want to go can stay at the original place to work with no further assessment of their abilities.

As the school hadn't had the mixed language lessons for some time lots of staff (?) would never have had to do this and there would be no way to know whether or not they could. By accepting all the current staff without question it seems to me that the CS was (potentially and really) not bothering about whether or not their plan would really work with regard to languages. They had an idea but had no real way of knowing whether it was workable.

But of course, in CS-Land, it was workable without assessment!
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Sun Apr 03, 2011 3:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
The fact that it was such a reasonable excuse (or excuses) and that Joey did sort of take her side by not condemning it, makes me wonder if maybe EBD wasn't just fed up with lots of closeted, stifling staff rooms and aching to get away herself :lol:
Author:  Cosimo's Jackal [ Sun Apr 03, 2011 3:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
ChubbyMonkey wrote:
The fact that it was such a reasonable excuse (or excuses) and that Joey did sort of take her side by not condemning it, makes me wonder if maybe EBD wasn't just fed up with lots of closeted, stifling staff rooms and aching to get away herself :lol:


Joey doesn't condemn it, and she's not rude and rather silly like Biddy and whichever other mistress it is, but she does (if I'm remembering rightly), raise her eyebrows and seem surprised Miss Slater is going to voluntarily 'miss out on all the fun'... Even with Joey, there''s still not a sense that Miss Slater is making an obvious choice to further her career and achieve what she wants by changing jobs.
Author:  Elle [ Sun Apr 03, 2011 7:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
I can empathise with Miss Slater! I have been in my current job 11 years and am also stuck in a rut (hence trying for a job last week), but I would hate it if my friends and colleagues did not support me. My school is becoming an academy in Sept, so like the Chalet School, there is going to be big changes. I hate the way Miss Slater is treated when she says she is not coming with them to Switzerland, I would be furious if people spoke to me like that!
Author:  KB [ Sun Apr 03, 2011 9:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Cosimo's Jackal wrote:
Joey doesn't condemn it, and she's not rude and rather silly like Biddy and whichever other mistress it is, but she does (if I'm remembering rightly), raise her eyebrows and seem surprised Miss Slater is going to voluntarily 'miss out on all the fun'... Even with Joey, there''s still not a sense that Miss Slater is making an obvious choice to further her career and achieve what she wants by changing jobs.


Well, not entirely. She does say the following to herself:

Quote:
“This I where I pitch in pronto!” Jo murmured to herself as she let the rose-branches slip and picked up the tins. “What is that ass Slater doing? “


She gives her a 'curious look', which I suppose has many possible interpretations, and it's her words that make Miss Slater go scarlet. Lots of circumstantial evidence, I suppose, and plenty of interpretation possible. About the only thing that can be said definitely is that at least she doesn't join in the teasing, which makes her rather more mature than the mistresses who do.
Author:  MJKB [ Mon Apr 04, 2011 1:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
I've never read that bit before. Where exactly is it said?
Author:  julieanne1811 [ Mon Apr 04, 2011 1:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Joey does 'raise her eyebrows', too:

Quote:
' ... I'll be head of the entire maths satff which numbers six besides myself.'
Jo raised her eyebrows. 'Not coming with us? D'you really liuke the idea of a berth like that better than Switzerland and all the fun of a new beginning?'


It comes down to an interpretation of what 'raised eyebrows' means, I suppose. Surprise, disbelief?

I read it as more in the 'really? Are you sure? How odd.' camp, myself. To me it comes across as Joey seeing Pam Slater as a bit of an oddity.
Author:  MJKB [ Mon Apr 04, 2011 2:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
But why does she refer to her as 'that ass Slater"? Is it because the poor woman has expressed her intention of leaving the CS? Is Joey's contribution merely an attempt to pour oil on trouble waters?
Author:  julieanne1811 [ Mon Apr 04, 2011 8:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
It's interesting, isn't it? Who else does Joey call by their surname? That alone puts Pam Slater rather on teh edge of the CS crowd - not quite a true Chaletian, I mean.
Author:  aitchemelle [ Mon Apr 04, 2011 8:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
I think this is a really interesting discussion.

Quote:
And that makes me wonder - if this happened in RL, would the CS have blithely said that it was going to transplant to Switzerland, and that Mistresses had to teach in French and German as well as English - and not have done some kind of assessment to see if the Staff were up to the new requirements?


When the last government brought in it's Modern Foreign Languages plan for primary schools, there were no assessments of staff competency or anything like that. It's not quite in the same league as moving your school to another country I know, but still quite scary for someone like me. I have to teach French to my 10-11 year olds, I gave up French at school when I was 14, which was 16 years ago!
Author:  Abi [ Mon Apr 04, 2011 9:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
julieanne1811 wrote:
Who else does Joey call by their surname?


I think this does happen occasionally - not Joey, necessarily, but I'm sure I remember a few 'Burnetts' and other surnames scattered about. Infrequently, admittedly, but maybe the staff - and friends - did call one another by their surnames sometimes.

I always saw Joey's interruption as quite benign - wanting to stop Miss Slater reacting badly and making the others tease her any more (which is what I thought she was referring to when she says 'that ass').
Author:  Alison H [ Mon Apr 04, 2011 9:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
From the viewpoint of anyone who'd been at the school in Tyrol, not having the trilingual system, and indeed being in Britain at all, was just a temporary situation due to the exceptional circumstances of the War. It's made clear in Three Go, and at the beginning of Island, that the Russells intended to move both the School and the San back to Tyrol as soon as the post-war situation in Austria was sorted out, and I think there were references even earlier to hoping to move back to Tyrol "some day". For Jo or Biddy, going back to the trilingual system and moving to Switzerland (as the next best thing to Austria) would just have been getting back to normal, as opposed to a drastic change which turned everything upside down. However, by Changes, and even by Three Go when the trilingual system was reintroduced, anyone who was a pupil in Tyrol had long since left and several of the mistresses were new since Tyrol days as well.

I think Pam would have got the same reaction - how could she possibly want to leave the wonderful Chalet School for any reason other than marriage or family responsibilities? - even if the move to Switzerland'd had nothing to do with her decision, but the situation must've seemed very different to staff who were old timers or Old Girls than it did to her.

No-one else seems very career-minded. When Hilda goes on her sabbatical in Challenge, the general opinion is that Nancy's the only one who could possibly take over, even just for one term, which doesn't say much for the many other long-serving and experienced members of staff.
Author:  Mel [ Mon Apr 04, 2011 9:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Miss Slater doesn't want to continue with the CS or she would have applied to the Glendower House branch surely? In fact she could have been Head. I always find Miss Edwards an odd choice seeing that she was the Head of the Juniors and from the start GH is the British branch of the main school taking in all ages. But perhaps after all, she was not the Right Type.
Author:  Sarah_K [ Mon Apr 04, 2011 9:54 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
It would be really interesting to see Miss Slater a few years down the line, maybe at a Headmistresses conference with Miss Annersley or similar.

She just seems to have more ambition than a lot of the CS staff- or at least their ambition is mostly focussed inside the school.
Author:  Rosemary [ Mon Apr 04, 2011 11:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Quote:
She gives her a 'curious look', which I suppose has many possible interpretations, and it's her words that make Miss Slater go scarlet.
(by KB)

I always thought that Miss Slater was a bit embarrassed that Joey, as sister of the Chalet School's Glorious Founder was finding out about her desire to leave (hence the blush).

It seems to me there's a sense that the Chalet School is such a marvellous place that it's 'wrong' to want to leave (unless you're marrying a doctor or, at a pinch, a member of a different profession!) But as people have pointed out, Joey is remarkably restrained, and quite understanding of the situation. Especially when I think that for Joey it is bizarre that anyone would want to leave the Chalet School.

I certainly get the impression that Miss Slater's desire to achieve headship is not portrayed as being entirely admirable, and this puzzles me, as EBD had already depicted Madge Bettany and Miss Annersley as strong heads by this point. Then again, both Madge and Hilda became headmistresses almost by accident (that's not quite the right way of expressing it but I hope you get what I mean) whilst Miss Slater is being 'calculating' about it (I put 'calculating' in speech marks as I don't want to emphasise its negative connotations - perhaps 'organised' would be a better word).

I agree with julianne1811 and Mel that essentially Miss Slater is
Quote:
on the edge of the CS crowd - not quite a true Chaletian
and
Quote:
not the Right Type.
This brings me back to the idea of Miss Slater as having similarities to Miss Wilson - if Miss Wilson had been introduced later in the series, would she have fitted into it in the same way?
Author:  KB [ Mon Apr 04, 2011 11:54 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
MJKB wrote:
I've never read that bit before. Where exactly is it said?


It comes into Changes.

julieanne1811 wrote:
It's interesting, isn't it? Who else does Joey call by their surname?


EBD actually goes through phases with what the staff call each other. There are quite a few nicknames in the Austrian books and the uses of first names as the books go on. The War books, too, are mostly first names. Later Welsh books tend to use surnames, as do some of the early Swiss ones. During and after New Mistress, the shift is then for the staff to call one another by their first names. Of course, there are exceptions to this, but this is the general pattern.
Author:  julieanne1811 [ Tue Apr 05, 2011 10:18 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
But does Joey ever call anyone else by their surname? The role she usually plays within the school is much more 'pastoral' - so sorting out 'problems' like PS wanting to leave would come within her remit.

And within a pastoral role one would expect - and actually gets - more informal forms of address as the norm. But in this case, Joey uses the surname and I find this very odd. It doesn't go with her (I want to say 'gentle', but that's something Joey isn't usually!) ... um ... familiar name usage, generally.
Author:  Alison H [ Tue Apr 05, 2011 10:49 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Using surnames seems to be a quirk of the British books and, as KB said, in some of the Tyrol books nicknames are used - Hilda is called "Nan". Joey knew most of the other mistresses as either her own teachers or her own schoolfriends, but Pam's an odd one out.

I'd think that Pam's seen as being in the wrong because she's openly ambitious. From when Mary-Lou's about 14, everyone assumes that she'll be Head Girl when she reaches the VIth form, yet she's still (or at least pretends to be) totally taken aback when she's appointed! Maybe some of the others mistresses were ambitious too but realised that a better way of getting on was to keep saying openly that the school was wonderful and to try to become bosom buddies with Joey :lol:.

Miss Wilson's always described as being very sarcastic, which as an oversensitive teenager I would have hated, but she always seems to get on well with the other mistresses and there's no suggestion that any of the girls dislike her.
Author:  MJKB [ Tue Apr 05, 2011 12:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Not having my books with me in my rented house, I'm a little fuzzy about details generally. From memory, there is never any very positive statements made about Miss Slater, either from the girls or the mistresses. The only compliment she gets is at the beginning of Corola I think, where she's described as good looking. Does anyone remember that? Of course she's a maths teacher who is quite unsympathetic towards those who are distinctly unmathematical, and that in itself is a no no in the CS; Nancy who follows her as maths teacher has some apparently marvellous/miraculous way of teaching maths even to the least gifted!
Author:  aitchemelle [ Tue Apr 05, 2011 12:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Sarah_K wrote:
It would be really interesting to see Miss Slater a few years down the line, maybe at a Headmistresses conference with Miss Annersley or similar.


*Puts the bunny back in it's hutch* No, I don't have time for that sort of thing!
Author:  Kathy_S [ Tue Apr 05, 2011 5:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Is Miss Slater ever addressed informally as anything other than "Slater"? It seems to be the norm, even when others are "Hilary" and "Mary" as in the quote below. Maybe it was her chosen nickname, or just that so many of the others were already known by first name as prior head girl?
Quote:
Joey stared at her with dropped jaw. ‘My – only – aunt! What a calamity! Madge! What on earth are you going to do about it? If it had been only one of them; or even two! But all four! Who can act as Head? There isn’t anybody. Slater’s a dear, but she’s only twenty-six or so. Mary and Hilary are no older.
- Gay
Author:  julieanne1811 [ Tue Apr 05, 2011 7:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
It's all very odd, isn't it? Even people like Miss Bubb or Matron Besley are addressed by their titles. Using only her surname reinforces PS's periphery and unlikeliness of ever fitting in.

Is she ever called 'Pam'?
Author:  Alison H [ Tue Apr 05, 2011 9:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Miss Everett's the other one who never seems to be addressed by her first name. I'm not even sure what it was!

It's never occurred to me before, but no-one even mentions Grizel as a possible temporary head in Gay. By then she must've been almost the same age as Hilda was when Mlle Lepattre first became ill, plus she'd got some experience of the admin side of things from when she was at the Annexe. Another one who never quite fits in :( , even though in her case she's been at the CS (apart from her time at music college) since day 1.
Author:  Abi [ Tue Apr 05, 2011 9:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Alison H wrote:
Miss Everett's the other one who never seems to be addressed by her first name. I'm not even sure what it was!


Rhyll. :D

I think Grizel wouldn't be seen as mature enough. I mean, I don't think she'd have the emotional maturity to be able to cope with such a huge job - she's intelligent, charming, a leader and probably very hard working, but I think she'd still at this point have a tendency to react to things very personally, and to give strong knee-jerk reactions to situations instead of thinking her response through properly. I don't think any of them would have considered her as Head at that point.
Author:  Alison H [ Tue Apr 05, 2011 9:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
It's a nice idea, though :lol: .
Author:  Abi [ Tue Apr 05, 2011 10:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
I think there would have been some slightly - um - different problems to the ones Miss Bubb created!
Author:  Kathy_S [ Tue Apr 05, 2011 10:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
I don't see any evidence that Miss Slater isn't just one of the gang until German is reinstated in Carola. True, as far as I know she's called "Slater" (or Miss Slater, of course) until Changes, but I've known a few women who used a last name as a nickname. Maybe she just didn't feel like a "Pam."

On a very tangentially Slater question, is this usage of "bounce" common? (It's very alien to me.)
Quote:
You’re wrong, Slater. Her pride’s being taken down every day at the moment, and she isn’t answering kindly to the process. Besides, how would you like your pride taken down as you express it?”

“It was done years ago, my dear, when I was a kid at school myself,” replied Miss Slater calmly. “I used to dread hearing that I’d got full marks for my maths, for I was sure to get a squashing shortly after from someone who thought I was showing bounce over my work. And see what a nice creature I am as a result!”

“Well! How’s that for bounce?” cried Hilary, sitting up.

Whereupon the discussion descended into a rag between the younger members of the Staff, while their elders laughed at them, and the question of how to deal with Lavender was shelved for the time being.
Author:  Alison H [ Tue Apr 05, 2011 11:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Quote:
Loud, arrogant speech; bluster.


That's from thefreedictionary.com. That meaning of the word isn't in the Oxford Dictionary at all, and I've never once heard it anywhere else! Maybe it was a slang word popular at the time?
Author:  Kate [ Tue Apr 05, 2011 11:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
I'm not sure, but I think Noel Streatfeild used it too...
Author:  Nightwing [ Wed Apr 06, 2011 12:19 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Kathy_S wrote:
“It was done years ago, my dear, when I was a kid at school myself,” replied Miss Slater calmly. “I used to dread hearing that I’d got full marks for my maths, for I was sure to get a squashing shortly after from someone who thought I was showing bounce over my work. And see what a nice creature I am as a result!”


I've never read this before - must have been cut out of the pb - but to me this goes a long way to explain why Miss Slater has "favourites" among the top maths students. Her being good at maths made her an object of scorn - I could see her trying to be nice/encourage the girls she teaches who are good at maths to make up for that.

It also makes it sound like she had a tough time at school - perhaps part of the reason why she never fitted in at the CS?
Author:  KB [ Wed Apr 06, 2011 12:26 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Kathy_S wrote:
I don't see any evidence that Miss Slater isn't just one of the gang until German is reinstated in Carola. True, as far as I know she's called "Slater" (or Miss Slater, of course) until Changes, but I've known a few women who used a last name as a nickname. Maybe she just didn't feel like a "Pam."


Ironically the one time she is called Pam is in the scene in Changes we've been discussing:

Quote:
Had you been ticking that lot off for the good of their souls, Pam?”

Miss Slater went scarlet. “No; though I certainly should have done so if you hadn’t arrived when you did. The silly young asses were putting on an act because I’d just told them that I’m not coming to Switzerland when the rest of you go. I’ve got a job as Head of the maths department at Selling Grammar School not far from where I live. It’s a big school – between six and seven hundred pupils – and I’ll be head of the entire maths staff which numbers six besides myself.”

Jo raised her eyebrows. “Not coming with us? D’you really like the idea of a berth like that better than Switzerland and all the fun of a new beginning?”

Miss Slater nodded. “Think it over a moment, Jo. I’m thirty-five now. If I ever want to get a post as Head somewhere, I’ve got to make a change. And though I enjoy a holiday abroad, I’m not so mad on the Continent as to want to spend most of my time there. I’ve been here ten years and I feel I’m getting into a rut. If I don’t make a break now, I never shall.”

Jo gave her a curious look before she said, “I see. If you feel like that, I agree you’re wise to make the break now, when the school is making a big break, anyhow. But I’m sorry, Pam. I’d have liked us all to go together.”


I think this is rather nice, as it suggests that Jo has a different relationship with her than the rest of the staff do.
Author:  julieanne1811 [ Wed Apr 06, 2011 9:18 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Thank you KB. Your encylopaedic knowldge of the books comes in very helpful in these discussions!
Author:  KB [ Wed Apr 06, 2011 11:24 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
julieanne1811 wrote:
Thank you KB. Your encylopaedic knowldge of the books comes in very helpful in these discussions!


You're very welcome! :lol:
Author:  Sarah_G-G [ Wed Apr 06, 2011 11:30 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Nightwing wrote:
Kathy_S wrote:
“It was done years ago, my dear, when I was a kid at school myself,” replied Miss Slater calmly. “I used to dread hearing that I’d got full marks for my maths, for I was sure to get a squashing shortly after from someone who thought I was showing bounce over my work. And see what a nice creature I am as a result!”


I've never read this before - must have been cut out of the pb - but to me this goes a long way to explain why Miss Slater has "favourites" among the top maths students. Her being good at maths made her an object of scorn - I could see her trying to be nice/encourage the girls she teaches who are good at maths to make up for that.

It also makes it sound like she had a tough time at school - perhaps part of the reason why she never fitted in at the CS?


I thought the same on reading that, actually. I also find it interesting that I think it's one of the only times (the only time?) that EBD admits that being very good at lessons doesn't always make a person well-liked or admired. It's a very realistic anecdote and does explain why Miss Slater might stick up for someone like Phil Craven, who is very good at Maths but isn't well-regarded for it.
Author:  MJKB [ Wed Apr 06, 2011 12:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Slightly mad and almost ot, but interesting that you have a Miss Stone (Linda) join the CS not long after Miss Slater leaves. The names are similar in sound and meaning, and neither comes across as being popular with either staff or pupils.
Author:  julieanne1811 [ Wed Apr 06, 2011 2:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
MJKB wrote:
Slightly mad and almost ot, but interesting that you have a Miss Stone (Linda) join the CS not long after Miss Slater leaves. The names are similar in sound and meaning, and neither comes across as being popular with either staff or pupils.


Ooh - interesting! We do do something on the names used for different characters, good or bad. Could Miss Bubb ever have been a 'good' character with aname like that? It's aknowledged as potentially amusing when she's introduced to the school by name only, but given teh seriousness of what's just happened, any amusement isn't taken, and it's never picked up afterwards.

Matron Besley sounds sort of weasle-like.
Author:  Cosimo's Jackal [ Wed Apr 06, 2011 2:55 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Don't we also hear that Miss Slater is one of the few staff fans of Mary-Lou's nemesis Phil Craven at one point? (Which is another surname that signals A Bad Lot!)

I agree with those who've said that EBD is dubious about ambition when it's plainly expressed, conscious and sets someone apart from the jolly collectivity of the CS, or suggests there are other, perhaps better ways of life elsewhere - which I think is the issue here. Pam Slater's defection (and that does seem to me how it's seen!) means that at some level she's dissatisfied with the CS and her job there, and legitimates the way in which the other mistresses respond so rudely. Which is very interesting, as they mock her as now being superior in professional rank to them, as if 'setting herself above them' professionally makes her a target.

And yes, Joey is polite and behaves much more appropriately, thank heavens, but I think it's clear from her raised eyebrows, 'curious look', and choice of words (the implication that Miss Slater's new job is a safe 'berth' as compared to the excitement and 'fun' of the Swiss move) that she's equally mystified, but more polite about it. And even though Joey isn't a fellow staff member, she also seems to take Pam Slater's defection quite personally - 'Not coming with us? [...] I'd have liked us all to go together'.

And even though PS explains in detail to Joey the reasons she's leaving, there's no sense on EBD's part that even a sensitive woman like Joey grasps that this is the obvious right move for PS, in terms of how she wants her professional and personal life to go! But even after that very sound explanation, Joey is still giving her a 'curious' look and saying 'I see. If you feel like that..' One wants to point out that what might be an excellent move for someone very young like Gill Culver (who's all about the 'fun' of St Mildred's and thanking her stars she's not in a City typing pool) is not an obviously appealing one for a 35 year old with ambition to be a Headmistress, and who doesn't want to live abroad!
Author:  Alison H [ Wed Apr 06, 2011 3:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
It's interesting that the scene's included. If EBD just wanted to get rid of Pam, she could have left her at Carnbach or, if she wanted her out of the school completely, said that she'd taken a job near her home town because she needed to be near an elderly/sick relative, which in CS-land would have been an acceptable reason for changing jobs.

Depressingly, I think that a lot of it's about attitudes towards women and what was and wasn't seen as ladylike behaviour. I'd think that if Mary and Hilary had been told that a friend's brother or husband had found a new job which represented a big promotion, they'd have been falling over themselves to congratulate him.
Author:  MJKB [ Wed Apr 06, 2011 7:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Alison H wrote:
I'd think that if Mary and Hilary had been told that a friend's brother or husband had found a new job which represented a big promotion, they'd have been falling over themselves to congratulate him.

Sadly, yes, women are not meant to have ambitions beyond a certain level, and this is particularly true for CS staff. Not for PS, then, the chance of a reward of a 'great' doctor husband, not for her the excitement of being rescued from a watery grave and brought back to consciouness with a swig of medicinal brady. It's also about keeping things in the family. The CS starts off as a school with a lovely, family atmosphere. That was it's greatest charm. But like many families, the closeness can become controlling and suffocating, and that's what happens towards the end of the series.
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Wed Apr 06, 2011 8:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
It sounds like the playing out of the fears about the 'noveau-rich, self-made money' in microcosm.
Author:  Alison H [ Wed Apr 06, 2011 10:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
I'd say that, although CS girls aren't discouraged from any career plans they might have, the idea seems to be that it's wrong to put yourself forward in any way. The way the system works is that no-one auditions for parts in the play or tries out for a place in any of the sports teams: the decisions are made by mistresses or prefects. Yseult is frowned on by everyone for making it clear that she wants a part in the play. It must be very pleasant to be in an environment where there isn't the sort of backbiting and general nastiness that often occur when people are competing against each other when both are after the same position, but it's not easy when you're out in the big bad world and have been taught not to push yourself forward, especially if you're naturally self-effacing anyway.
Author:  KB [ Wed Apr 06, 2011 11:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
MJKB wrote:
Slightly mad and almost ot, but interesting that you have a Miss Stone (Linda) join the CS not long after Miss Slater leaves. The names are similar in sound and meaning, and neither comes across as being popular with either staff or pupils.


One difference I notice is that Miss Stone at least gets a nickname (Rocky) while I don't recall Miss Slater ever having one.
Author:  julieanne1811 [ Thu Apr 07, 2011 11:24 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Alison H wrote:
The way the system works is that no-one auditions for parts in the play or tries out for a place in any of the sports teams: the decisions are made by mistresses or prefects.


You know, I'd never thought of this - you're right. No-one ever auditions for parts inte play! So would it have been a foregone conclusion with everyone knowing, more or less, whether or not they'd have a speaking part and which one, do you think? Or would it come as a complete suprise?

And would the Staff discuss parts between themselves? Who would have had the main stay in it all? Very odd.
Author:  Cosimo's Jackal [ Thu Apr 07, 2011 1:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
julieanne1811 wrote:

You know, I'd never thought of this - you're right. No-one ever auditions for parts inte play! So would it have been a foregone conclusion with everyone knowing, more or less, whether or not they'd have a speaking part and which one, do you think? Or would it come as a complete suprise?

And would the Staff discuss parts between themselves? Who would have had the main stay in it all? Very odd.


Well, it's made plain in New Mistress that Yseult shouldn't expect as good a part as Mary-Lou simply because she's new and Mary-Lou has been at the school for a long time. The spin is 'she's been here for ages, so we know what she can do, and we don't know whether you're any good yet' - but surely open auditions would solve that particular issue? New girls are just as liable to be good actors or singers as long-established ones, as shown with Jane. Though again, Jane has to be asked to help out with the Saturday evening play, she doesn't volunteer.
Author:  Fiona Mc [ Thu Apr 07, 2011 1:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Cosimo's Jackal wrote:
julieanne1811 wrote:

You know, I'd never thought of this - you're right. No-one ever auditions for parts inte play! So would it have been a foregone conclusion with everyone knowing, more or less, whether or not they'd have a speaking part and which one, do you think? Or would it come as a complete suprise?

And would the Staff discuss parts between themselves? Who would have had the main stay in it all? Very odd.


Well, it's made plain in New Mistress that Yseult shouldn't expect as good a part as Mary-Lou simply because she's new and Mary-Lou has been at the school for a long time. The spin is 'she's been here for ages, so we know what she can do, and we don't know whether you're any good yet' - but surely open auditions would solve that particular issue? New girls are just as liable to be good actors or singers as long-established ones, as shown with Jane. Though again, Jane has to be asked to help out with the Saturday evening play, she doesn't volunteer.


That always seems a bit odd to me, because Ruey in her first term is given a large part because she has a nice speaking voice. If they gave her a large part, why not Yseult who seems to need it more.
Author:  Mel [ Thu Apr 07, 2011 4:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
At the CS it seems to be assumed that all girls speak clearly in the accepted RP accent so therefore can act. You get a part if you are MRB or Guernsey girls and if you are an accepted new girl. Jo is favoured as far as parts go, even after she has left in Jo Returns, Madge tells her that there is a good part for her in the Nativity play as a way of enticing her to stay until the end of term. I wonder if there was gnashing of teeth at this from girls who hoped they might finally get a look-in?
Author:  Cosimo's Jackal [ Thu Apr 07, 2011 7:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Mel wrote:
Jo is favoured as far as parts go, even after she has left in Jo Returns, Madge tells her that there is a good part for her in the Nativity play as a way of enticing her to stay until the end of term. I wonder if there was gnashing of teeth at this from girls who hoped they might finally get a look-in?

:D :D

Yes, that never even occurred to me, but it seems quite plausible! Of course, in many other school stories, someone who's left school and is 'grown up' wanting to hang around and act with schoolgirls would be seen as a bit tragic and Peter Pan-ish, but Joey's glamour clearly carries her through!

OT for Miss Slater, but I would have loved some acknowledgement from EBD that acting and singing talent are independent of you being a nice person OR being devoutly sincere in your religious beliefs. I rather cherish the idea of a CS nativity play in which some chronologically-plausible combination of Thekla von Stift, Phil Craven, Eilunedd, Joan Baker and Naomi Elton played the Blessed Virgin/Joseph/the Archangel Gabriel/the Spirit of Christmas absolutely beautifully. :)
Author:  Alison H [ Thu Apr 07, 2011 9:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
I don't think it's specifically a CS thing or an EBD thing: there's just a cultural idea, involving various complicated issues of class and religion, that putting yourself forward or thinking well of your own abilities (or appearance) is a Very Bad Thing, especially if you're a female. That's fine to some extent - no-one would want everyone wandering around bragging about how wonderful they are all the time - but it can get taken to extremes sometimes, as when Pam is mocked for being ambitious or some poor wedding guest gets her head bitten off for saying that the bridesmaids look nice. Also, it tends to mean that some people get ahead (even if it's only a part in a school play!) because they know someone "important" or are otherwise favoured by the powers that be, whereas people who may be more talented lose out.

I'd really like to've seen EBD occasionally use the Enid Blyton trope of a new girl who's bad/sad/just generally not settling in turning out to be brilliant at music, acting or sport.
Author:  Llywela [ Fri Apr 08, 2011 6:47 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
It is also very typical of schools even now that the teachers will tend to put their favourite students, tried and tested, into the lead roles in school plays, while lesser lights rarely if ever get a look in to even find out what they might be able to do, given a chance.
Author:  MJKB [ Fri Apr 08, 2011 10:49 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Llywela wrote:
It is also very typical of schools even now that the teachers will tend to put their favourite students, tried and tested, into the lead roles in school plays, while lesser lights rarely if ever get a look in to even find out what they might be able to do, given a chance.


May I use the board temporarily for blowing off steam, please?
My daughter joined her present school in second year and was put into the music class. The teacher completely ignored her, when she was not showing how irritated she was by her (my daughter's voice is not the best though she still remains unaware of that, but she is really interested in music - or was!). She spent two years with this teacher who made it very plain that she was not worth teaching. At her Junior Cert practicals, she didn't even bother to show up to accompany her on the piano, so the poor kid was completely put off.

It came to the Musical in Transition Year, the main event of the year and auditions took place, mainly from this particular teacher's class as it was perceived that they would be the most talented, or at least the most interested in that they were the only music class in the junior cycle. Anyway, about half auditioned including my daughter, as well as about 10 other students in the year group. On the day of the audition my daughter forgot her glasses so she found it difficult to read the script. Not one of the teachers told her to go and fetch them, they just let her stumble through. She was cut off after a couple of bars in the singing part. To cut to the chase, she was the only kid from those who auditioned who didn't get even the least little part and she was utterly devastated as it led to comments like - you're in Ms Blank's class and you didn't get anything? You must really suck! I had a dreadful time with her for the greater part of the year as it affected every aspect of the year, the Musical being the absolute highlight. I brought it to the attention of the school, in a very reasonable and concilitary way, and was treated like your typical pushy mother, which I honestly am not. They reluctantly gave her an inocuous introduction to do which made her feel somewhat included, and then, on the first night of the show, took it from her and gave it to one of the teachers to declaim! I can still feel my blood pressure rising when I think of it!
Rant over!
Author:  Mel [ Fri Apr 08, 2011 10:50 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Just want to say that I always auditioned kids for school plays, but would chuck out anyone who messed about or didn't turn up for rehearsals. I once had one girl say to me: 'Why have you given her that part, I'm much better looking..'
Author:  jmc [ Fri Apr 08, 2011 11:35 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
MJKB, Im sorry your daughter had such an awful experience but I don't think all schools do this. We always have open auditions and cast who we think is appropriate for each part regardless of whether they are juniors or seniors. We will give kids a second chance if required and everyone will get some sort of part. Like Mel though if they don't come to rehearsal or muck round too much we chuck them out. I will agree there are some school who cast their favourites, my high school was one, but I think it is a bit unfair to lump all schools together.
Author:  Cosimo's Jackal [ Fri Apr 08, 2011 11:51 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
jmc wrote:
but I think it is a bit unfair to lump all schools together.


I don't think MJKB was lumping all schools together, she was recounting her daughter's experience at one particular school...?

I do get impatient with the way in which girls and women, far more than men and boys, are expected not to put themselves forward or argue their status upward. A friend of mine in an Education department was recently talking about the overwhelming research which supports the assertion that male/female pay gaps in the workplace stem in part from women entering the workplace accepting the first salary offer made, whereas newly-hired men are far more likely to ask for more. That largely comes down to socialisation.

EBD has a funny attitude towards it though - it's fine for Con and Len to be years ahead of their age group, slogging like mad, conspicuously top of the form, and winning all possible class prizes etc, Oxford-bound, and universally thought of as massively clever and hard-working, but not for a new girl to want a big part in a school play, or a mistress to want a more responsible/prestigious job. (I mean, Con and Len are never seen as limelight-seeking, pot-hunting teacher's pets, are they, yet that level of academic achievement must have taken conscious application and calculation...?)
Author:  jmc [ Fri Apr 08, 2011 11:56 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Sorry I apologise. It wasn't MJKB's post that made me write that. It was more this one.
Llywela wrote:
It is also very typical of schools even now that the teachers will tend to put their favourite students, tried and tested, into the lead roles in school plays, while lesser lights rarely if ever get a look in to even find out what they might be able to do, given a chance.
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Fri Apr 08, 2011 4:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Ours just had a Christmas concert chucked open to anyone, and they announced the likely length when all interested acts had signed up. I embarrassed myself many a time doing it!

Perhaps it was all the established/children of OGs who got good parts because they knew the blackmail material? :lol:

In Yseult's case, I've always seen it more as like not wanting to reward a child for a temper tantrum; if they give in, she'll be getting her own way for behaving badly.
Author:  julieanne1811 [ Fri Apr 08, 2011 5:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
I worked in a PrePrep for three years as a Y2 Form Teacher. The Head of PrePrep (a wonderful woman!) wrote teh Nativity play every year (slightly different) and it had a speaking part for every boy in the PrePrep. There were over 60 boys so it was hard to get in all the speaking parts, so they each had onl a line ot say each. And we'd spend hours and hours rehearsing in the hall, and the stage would be inspected from every angle to make sure that each child was given the same exposure as the others at all points.

She was incredible - she really did make it work, but I found it irritating that so much learning time had to be spent thus, just to satisfy the parents ...
Author:  MJKB [ Fri Apr 08, 2011 6:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Our students have a variety show every year which they run with some supervision by the teachers. Anyone from 12 to 18 can take part in they so choose. Consequently we get a very mixed show. There are some excellent performances, and some quite dire ones. Everybody gets a spontaneous clap whatever their standard, and the kids absolutely love it. Nobody feels left out or overlooked, yet the really talented students are fully appreciated. The show may be a little jagged at the edges, not a polished performance at all, but the object is achieved - participation and inclusion.
I know that the real world is different, and children have to be prepared for disappointment, rejection etc, but they need to be bolstered too, and allowed to enjoy every aspect of school before then. Better a less polished show if everybody feels they were a genuine part of it.
BTW, sorry to all for my long rant before, and thank you for your sympathetic comments.
Author:  julieanne1811 [ Fri Apr 08, 2011 7:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
MJKB wrote:
I know that the real world is different, and children have to be prepared for disappointment, rejection etc, but they need to be bolstered too ...


This reminded me of something I saw on C4 last week - a prgramme about Premier One, a model agency. Some of the models were being dropped and had to find other work - in the 'real' world, if you like. They were talking to one young man who was no longer going to be employed as a model and he was asked if he'd ever applied for any jobs other than modelling in his life.

His response was, 'No. I can't handle rejection, so I don't.' He made it sound like a very serious 'illness', whereas in fact it was about him feeling too 'precious' to go for normal jobs ...

I'm not at all referring this to your comment directly, MJKB (your comment just reminded me of it) and there is a place for bolstering - especially in teh 'real' world, where most of us live and where we are often knocked back. This young man had never been knocked back and didn't intend to be.
Author:  whitequeen [ Fri Apr 08, 2011 7:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
I think we talked about this before but my school never had auditions either - the teacher picked who was in what part. When we did a bigger musical, she picked who was allowed to audition, nobody chose what part they'd like to go for and auditioned for that. Except one girl said she HAD TO have the part of Rizzo or she wasn't going to be in the musical at all... and what made me really mad, and still does, is that she was given the part!

Imagining that in the CS.... she would have been hemming sheets during every single rehearsal :D
Author:  Kathy_S [ Fri Apr 08, 2011 10:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Back to Miss Slater's resignation scene-

I think the young faculty probably thought they were merely 'ragging,' as when the younger Slater says "what a nice creature" she is: very likely a habit with that lot. Unfortunately, Pam really wasn't in the mood for it -- she'd just been given a hard time on the topic by some students. Joey realizes the problem and tries to defuse the situation. It's always hard when someone you don't want to lose leaves a position. You really can't be too congratulatory without the person in question deciding you're happy to see the back of her, but you don't want her to think you aren't pleased for her new opportunity.

I do agree that there would have to be some degree of "Why would anyone want to leave us?" involved. Certainly with Joey it would be consistent with her pride in the school and her usual reluctance to see anyone except the Miss Bubbs of the world depart, but I'm not at all sure it was EBD being judgmental. It seemed more as though she were trying for a little realism. (Clearly she succeeded, as otherwise no one would care enough to worry about Miss Slater or question the author's motives.)

In terms of realism -- Last night someone had the courage to ask publicly why our current presidential search has been made something top secret, as opposed to past practice of interviews in which the faculty as a whole had a voice on the finalists. So secret we'll be informed of the result by press conference, with no input whatsoever. We were told that "nowadays" it is too critical to protect candidates from retaliatory firing. Obviously people seeking new positions care more about their own advancement than about the current job .... I wonder if anyone else in the audience was sitting there thinking about Miss Slater?
Author:  Alison H [ Fri Apr 08, 2011 10:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Oh dear, Kathy, that sounds pretty scary! I've certainly come across employers and colleagues accusing someone who wants to leave of disloyalty, though: as you say, there seems to be a view that looking for a new job means that you don't care about your current job. It's very unfair if the person is currently being underpaid and treated badly!

The CS does seem to be a good employer - unless you're Miss Bubb, Matron Besly or Matron Webb. Hilda doesn't object when Gillian Linton keeps rushing off to help Joyce with her kids, even though it presumably means someone else having to cover for her, and (although money's never mentioned generally) there's certainly no suggestion that Kathie doesn't get paid when she misses most of a term due to her appendicitis operation. & they effectively provide an almshouse for Herr Laubach when he retires (although I'm not sure what the fact that he's got no savings says about salary levels :roll: ). There's just no scope for promotion or for trying any sort of new ideas, which is what Pam says.
Author:  Rosemary [ Fri Apr 08, 2011 11:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Quote:
The CS does seem to be a good employer - unless you're Miss Bubb, Matron Besly or Matron Webb.


I seem to remember that Matron Webb and Miss Bubb at least got quite a good pay-off - I think they both received an extra half-term's salary to what they actually worked? I don't know how usual that would be (though maybe we shouldn't be examining the logic of the CS staff's employment contracts too deeply...) But given that Miss Bubb resigned, and Matron Webb showed active cruelty towards her charges (Elisaveta, and in particular, the Robin) I don't know if they legally had any grounds for the extra payment?

I agree with Kathy_S that being over-the-moon for Miss Slater regarding her new job could potentially be just as hurtful (implying that they were relieved to see the back of her) - I hadn't considered it from that point of view before. Thinking about it I actually find Joey's reaction affectionate and sensitive, but with enough 'wonderment' at the 'bizarre' desire to leave the Chalet School to be realistic for Joey.

Imagine how Joey would have reacted if, at the end of her first term, Kathy Ferrars decided that the school simply wasn't for her...I would wager that her reaction in that stage of the series would have been very different!
Author:  MJKB [ Mon Apr 11, 2011 11:36 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Rosemary wrote:
Imagine how Joey would have reacted if, at the end of her first term, Kathy Ferrars decided that the school simply wasn't for her...I would wager that her reaction in that stage of the series would have been very different!

I think the whole school would have been devastated. Kathie is living proof that CS values are a state of mind and can be inculcated even outside the magic circle. If she were to step into Anne of GG she'd be an instant 'kindren spirit".
Author:  Cosimo's Jackal [ Wed Apr 13, 2011 9:01 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Miss Slater
Rosemary wrote:
Quote:
The CS does seem to be a good employer - unless you're Miss Bubb, Matron Besly or Matron Webb.


I seem to remember that Matron Webb and Miss Bubb at least got quite a good pay-off - I think they both received an extra half-term's salary to what they actually worked? I don't know how usual that would be (though maybe we shouldn't be examining the logic of the CS staff's employment contracts too deeply...) But given that Miss Bubb resigned, and Matron Webb showed active cruelty towards her charges (Elisaveta, and in particular, the Robin) I don't know if they legally had any grounds for the extra payment?


I always feel the payment of the extra salary is designed mainly to show the CS being magnanimous even with 'bad' staff, but I also suspect it was to cut down on the possibility that there were fired CS staff members going around bad-mouthing the place publicly. Not quite a gagging sum, but something along those lines... And presumably none of the three would have been able to give the CS as referee...?
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