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Outside perceptions of the Chalet School
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Author:  Alison H [ Mon Aug 16, 2010 10:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Outside perceptions of the Chalet School
The back covers of the 1990s Armada pbs of the Swiss books say that the CS has become one of the most famous girls' schools in the world and that every girl dreams of going there :D . I tend to assume that that was just a marketing ploy rather than a genuine, general perception of the books, but I was just wondering what other people thought.

I never really see the CS as being world famous because it always seems quite insular and like a big family, and I tend to think of famous schools as being more public and less personal, and certainly not owned by founding families, but did EBD intend us to think of it as one of those schools which most people would've heard of - if an Old Girl mentioned to someone with no CS connections that she'd been to the CS, would the name immediately ring a bell?

Also, Hilda's tour of various schools in Challenge* (OK, it's just a plot device to get her out of the way for a bit without repeating the car crash storyline, but humour me :lol: ) suggests that she's a prominent member of something like the Association of Headmasters and Headmistresses or the Girls' School Association, the sort of person whose opinion would be quoted in the papers when changes to the exam system were proposed and that sort of thing. It doesn't seem to fit in with the cosy image of the CS as being a happy world of its own, somehow.

Sorry if I'm talking rubbish! Just wondered what other people thought.


*Thank you Elder for pointing out that I'd got the wrong book :lol: :lol: .
Author:  Nightwing [ Mon Aug 16, 2010 11:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Outside perceptions of the Chalet School
The CS always seems to me to be a sort of "best-kept secret" - a lot of people haven't seem to have heard of it, yet a lot of it's ex-pupils seem to be fairly well-known.

It always makes me wonder how much advertising the school actually does - a lot of people seem to hear about it either through the San or by word of mouth. It gives it a kind of exclusive feel that I don't think EBD really meant for it to have!
Author:  Caroline [ Tue Aug 17, 2010 7:48 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Outside perceptions of the Chalet School
One interesting parallel (OK, maybe only interesting to me!!) is Roedean School, which I would think ranks quite highly in terms of girls public schools in the UK. Roedean had a founding family (the Lawrence sisters), one of whom was the headmistress for many years, and also has an overseas branch - in South Africa, in their case. It had a bit more of an academic ethos than the CS, but it does demonstrate that well known public schools can be "family firms" in real life....

Oh, and Roedean started with 10 pupils - "six paying and four for show" according to their own website. And they took in the pupils of another school during WW2...
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Tue Aug 17, 2010 8:31 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Outside perceptions of the Chalet School
What I would think bizarrest is if it's that well known, new girls might know a bit more about it! You would think, given that it specialises in languages, that the remark "You have to remember what day it is" (which always makes sense to me anyway, because of course you do, or how will you know where you are on your timetable?!?) would be met with more than blankness.

On the other hand, I would struggle to name many, if any, leading all girl schools at the moment, and even if I recognised the name I would probably have to ask a lot of questions about it to actually gather anything of what it does, if that makes sense, so perhaps it isn't so untrue to life that people have to quiz OGs and so on about it to such lengths.
Author:  jonty [ Tue Aug 17, 2010 8:34 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Outside perceptions of the Chalet School
Alison H wrote:
Also, Hilda's tour of various schools in Triplets (OK, it's just a plot device to get her out of the way for a bit without repeating the car crash storyline, but humour me :lol: ) suggests that she's a prominent member of something like the Association of Headmasters and Headmistresses or the Girls' School Association, the sort of person whose opinion would be quoted in the papers when changes to the exam system were proposed and that sort of thing. It doesn't seem to fit in with the cosy image of the CS as being a happy world of its own, somehow.


I never bought that particular plot line, for the reasons you've suggested. At the (girls' independent) school I went to it wasn't uncommon for senior teachers of long standing to be given sabbaticals, or 'grace terms' as we called them. Mostly the teachers would travel, though some of them used the time for study. I can remember reading Triplets for the first time and thinking 'but why did EBD use such a transparently unbelievable plot line when she could have simply given Hilda a very well-deserved grace term to use as she wanted? And in any case, I don't recall Hilda coming back and implementing any wonderful new ideas from her tour, though admittedly it's a long time since I read the Swiss books so I may have forgotten that part!
Author:  2nd Gen Fan [ Tue Aug 17, 2010 10:04 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Outside perceptions of the Chalet School
Of course there wouldn't have been any ideas for ways to improve, because the Chalet School is already perfect! :D
Author:  Cosimo's Jackal [ Tue Aug 17, 2010 10:23 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Outside perceptions of the Chalet School
2nd Gen Fan wrote:
Of course there wouldn't have been any ideas for ways to improve, because the Chalet School is already perfect! :D


Yes, that's how I always read that - Hilda is going on her world tour to spread CS ideas, but it would be a cold day in hell before EBD would suggest her beloved school had something to learn from other institutions! :D

As regards CS fame, I think EBD is trying to have her cake and eat it. The CS is both an exlusive, private, semi-familial instutition, which specialises in finding remote bits of rural areas and islands in which to situate itself, doesn't appear to advertise and prefers to hire old girls. On the other hand, it piggybacks on the San's apparently worldwide renown, especially after Madge becomes Lady Russell, and lots of well-connected adults have heard of it through the grapevine (like the Crown Prince of Belsornia's doctor) even in its early days. I think that's the difference - EBD's new girls have mostly never heard of it, unless they meet CS girls on a train like Nina, or make friends with a mistress like Carola does (which is probably realistic enough, especially given how mentally young the average EBD new girl is) but the eminent people who end up recommending it to their parents or guardians nearly all know of the CS, even when they don't themselves have children there, which feels quite 'Establishment' to me.
Author:  Alison H [ Tue Aug 17, 2010 2:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Outside perceptions of the Chalet School
Cosimo's Jackal wrote:
As regards CS fame, I think EBD is trying to have her cake and eat it.


She manages it quite neatly with the San by making Jem an Establishment figure - he's made a baronet, he's invited to medical conferences all over the world and non-CS people like Kathie's uncle are familiar with his name - but leaving Jack as someone fairly low profile. It means that Madge gets to be Lady Russell and go jetting off all over the world whilst Joey is just plain Mrs and stays at home, but that fits in with the storyline. It's not so easily done with the school, though :roll: .
Author:  julieanne1811 [ Tue Aug 17, 2010 3:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Outside perceptions of the Chalet School
Mmmm ... thinking out loud here ... if we're talking about 'world' famous I suppose the 'world' has to be defined first. So ... is it the world of girls' boarding schools, or the world of education (?private/?state), or the world inhabited by people with TB who have girls who need to be at school, or ... well, you get the idea.

'World Famous' in terms of 'public celebrity' these days is unlikely. And I would guess that it wouldn't figure high on the list of famous schools for most parents looking for a boarding school for their girls.

When it comes to 'world famous' in the world of education I think there might be a point made. Although their target consumers (that is, everyone looking for a school) might not know of the school, I can see it being very well-known - Famous - within the relatively small 'world of private education, staff'. You can see them at conferences discussing this specialist school catering for girls of 'indifferent, or even bad medical history'. The CS wouldn't be a particular threat to other schools because they recruit for a completely different kind of girl.

So ... if the 'world' is the 'world of private education (staff)', then yes, I think they might well be famous. I wouldn't call it the 'world of private education (parents)' because unless a parent was actively looking for a school to cater to their own special needs (ill health of them or their girls) I don't think they would know of the CS. But if a parent is in this situation, we can see that often it is their doctor who recommends the school.

And that takes me on to the other 'world' in which the CS might be famous - the 'world of medical practise, especially relating to respiratory diseases'. They would know - as we see so many times!!!!

I think, though, generally not, when it comes to 'normal' (meaning fit and healthy) young women, unless they already know of someone who goes there.
Author:  emma t [ Tue Aug 17, 2010 5:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Outside perceptions of the Chalet School
I have often wondered this myself. I rather think that they would probably advertise more on word of mouth, which seems to be the case when new girls do come to the school, they seem to know one of the old girls, or someone who knows them or a mistress.
They do have a prospectus. In 'Gay' Gay and Auntie like the look of it the best and it's affordable, though I am also under the impression that the CS is quite expensive from various comments made throughout the school, but that could just be me.
Author:  RubyGates [ Wed Aug 18, 2010 9:07 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Outside perceptions of the Chalet School
emma t wrote:
I have often wondered this myself. I rather think that they would probably advertise more on word of mouth, which seems to be the case when new girls do come to the school, they seem to know one of the old girls, or someone who knows them or a mistress.
They do have a prospectus. In 'Gay' Gay and Auntie like the look of it the best and it's affordable, though I am also under the impression that the CS is quite expensive from various comments made throughout the school, but that could just be me.


I always got the impression that the CS becomes more expensive as time goes on but EBD's definition of "affordable" could be much like her definition of being poor, :D
There's a private school on the edge of the town where I live which advertises its fees as reasonable and says "Yes you can afford private eductation" but it still charges £15,000 a year which is more than my gross salary!
Author:  MaryR [ Wed Aug 18, 2010 7:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Outside perceptions of the Chalet School
Quote:
The back covers of the 1990s Armada pbs of the Swiss books say that the CS has become one of the most famous girls' schools in the world and that every girl dreams of going there

Actually, when I read that quote, I assumed the writer of the blurb meant that real-life girls dreamed of going to the CS, because it all sounded so romantic and exciting. Certainly, in the fifties and sixties, when I was reading the books, everyone knew about the school because there were so many more books written about it than any other school (The Abbey series wasn't really about school, was it?)

But I probably read the blurb wrongly. :roll:
Author:  Nightwing [ Wed Aug 18, 2010 9:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Outside perceptions of the Chalet School
MaryR wrote:
Actually, when I read that quote, I assumed the writer of the blurb meant that real-life girls dreamed of going to the CS, because it all sounded so romantic and exciting. Certainly, in the fifties and sixties, when I was reading the books, everyone knew about the school because there were so many more books written about it than any other school (The Abbey series wasn't really about school, was it?)

But I probably read the blurb wrongly. :roll:


That always what I assumed it meant, too! :D
Author:  MHE [ Wed Aug 18, 2010 10:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Outside perceptions of the Chalet School
Nightwing wrote:
MaryR wrote:
Actually, when I read that quote, I assumed the writer of the blurb meant that real-life girls dreamed of going to the CS, because it all sounded so romantic and exciting. Certainly, in the fifties and sixties, when I was reading the books, everyone knew about the school because there were so many more books written about it than any other school (The Abbey series wasn't really about school, was it?)

But I probably read the blurb wrongly. :roll:


That always what I assumed it meant, too! :D


And me!!!!!! :D
Author:  abbeybufo [ Wed Aug 18, 2010 10:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Outside perceptions of the Chalet School
MHE wrote:
Nightwing wrote:
MaryR wrote:
Actually, when I read that quote, I assumed the writer of the blurb meant that real-life girls dreamed of going to the CS, because it all sounded so romantic and exciting. Certainly, in the fifties and sixties, when I was reading the books, everyone knew about the school because there were so many more books written about it than any other school (The Abbey series wasn't really about school, was it?)

But I probably read the blurb wrongly. :roll:


That always what I assumed it meant, too! :D


And me!!!!!! :D


Moi aussi :D
Author:  RoseCloke [ Wed Aug 18, 2010 10:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Outside perceptions of the Chalet School
MaryR wrote:
Actually, when I read that quote, I assumed the writer of the blurb meant that real-life girls dreamed of going to the CS, because it all sounded so romantic and exciting. Certainly, in the fifties and sixties, when I was reading the books, everyone knew about the school because there were so many more books written about it than any other school (The Abbey series wasn't really about school, was it?)

But I probably read the blurb wrongly. :roll:


Nightwing wrote:
That always what I assumed it meant, too! :D


MHE wrote:
And me!!!!!! :D


abbeybufo wrote:
Moi aussi :D


Ich auch! :D

The various ways in which new girls seem unaware of the school does make me wonder whether (apart from being a handy plot device) it wouldn't have been unusual at the time. I tend to judge parenting from forty years ago by my parents, who are quite old-fashioned and several occasions spring to mind when they didn't tell my sister or I anything, even about our education. Would it have been so unusual for a parent to engage a school place for their daughter and then send them there with only the most basic of information?
Author:  Alison H [ Wed Aug 18, 2010 11:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Outside perceptions of the Chalet School
Someone - Primrose? - goes on about how she and her parents asked various schools for prospectuses (prospecti :D ?) and looked at them. With local day schools, you usually know people who go there or have been there and so you're able to ask them, plus people usually know the reputations of local schools, but I'm not sure how it'd work with a boarding school. Other than "the second generation", there's a surprising lack of people who've already got sisters, cousins or family friends at the school and so would've had it personally recommended (or not :lol: ) to them, so maybe they did go off the school's reputation. Would schools have advertised in the '50s, or would it've been seen as vulgar/inappropriate once they were established?
Author:  Squirrel [ Fri Aug 20, 2010 3:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Outside perceptions of the Chalet School
MaryR wrote:
Quote:
The back covers of the 1990s Armada pbs of the Swiss books say that the CS has become one of the most famous girls' schools in the world and that every girl dreams of going there

Actually, when I read that quote, I assumed the writer of the blurb meant that real-life girls dreamed of going to the CS, because it all sounded so romantic and exciting.



You know... thinking about it... I may have read somewhere that there were some people who just assumed it was based on a real boarding school and wrote off to the publishers for a prospectus. :shock: It could have been some other series, but I think it was the CS. Mind I'd have liked to have seen the response from the publishers involved, and the reactions parents of the pupils involved!
Author:  Alison H [ Fri Aug 20, 2010 3:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Outside perceptions of the Chalet School
:lol: :lol: I can believe that! There are always articles in magazines about soap opera actors being accosted by people who genuinely don't seem to realise that the programme isn't real and feel that they ought to tell the person that their partner's having an affair or to have a go at them for unfairly sacking an employee or whatever.
Author:  Cosimo's Jackal [ Fri Aug 20, 2010 3:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Outside perceptions of the Chalet School
Alison H wrote:
:lol: :lol: I can believe that! There are always articles in magazines about soap opera actors being accosted by people who genuinely don't seem to realise that the programme isn't real and feel that they ought to tell the person that their partner's having an affair or to have a go at them for unfairly sacking an employee or whatever.


Now imagining crazed CS fans writing to EBD crying 'Don't let Len marry that Reg - he's a wrong'un!' :D

I was just reading Gay and noticed that Jacynth is sent by her auntie to borrow a book that lists 'all the best schools' from her former teacher - and this book/directory lists the CS alongside Roedean and Cheltenham Ladies' College, which are the only two other schools mentioned by name as Jacynth and Auntie go through the book - elite company indeed!

Mind you, I quite like the relatively arbitrary, cost-minded way Auntie arrives at the CS for Jacynth - even though she's a friend of Gipsy Carson, she doesn't automatically choose the school for that reason ('because her old friend had been so happy there' etc), and she'd clearly have sent Jacynth to Roedean or Cheltenham if she could afford the fees, from what she says. She also discards some other schools as being 'too cheap' (so some of the 'best schools' are inexpensive, then?), and chooses the CS at least in part because the price is right. Although I always find myself laughing slightly that the Therese Lepattre scholarship is given as another reason the CS is chosen, given that Jacynth has been at a bad, tiny local school with her aunt's inept help at night, and feels she'll be very far behind, yet she still appears to think she might beat her new classmates at her 'elite' new school to win it...?
Author:  Mel [ Fri Aug 20, 2010 10:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Outside perceptions of the Chalet School
I can never believe that Auntie 'saves up' to send Jacynth to the CS by knitting!
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