The CBB :: View topic - Girls: Girls who lead the School

I always thought that EBD's most surprising choice was Elizabeth Arnett, considering her behaviour in earlier books. I know we were told that she had matured and changed, but I would have thought her previous reputation would have made it very difficult for her to keep order successfully - however much she had reformed.

Having said that, I don't know who I would have put in her place at that time.

I think Bride did a better job than Peggy, but I think the reason Tom thought she herself hadn't been appointed - her language - wasn't really sufficient cause to pass her over.

The appointment of Head Girls sometimes seems to be a last-minute thought, without much consistency in when it is decided who is to be head girl and when they are told.

For example Jo knew at the beginning of Eustacia that she would be head girl after that term. Mary-Lou was told part-way through Coming of Age that she was to be the next head girl. Peggy didn't find out until she got back to school that term. Bride had a special holiday-time visit to let her know. In one of the books - Shocks? I don't think they even know who will be prefects before they get back to school.

Prefects supervise prep, and often say they couldn't get any of their own work done because the Middles were playing up.

In Chalet Land if you are naturally clever and do your prep you get to Oxford. I think EBD was a bit vague about syllabuses to cover, therefore it didn't matter if time was lost through taking Middles' prep, boating three afternoons a week, Dom Sci one day a week etc.

It's as though EBD sees cleverness as a gift which one has or not as the case may be. Joey for instance picks up languages very easily, but there is little evidence of her working at them, or indeed at her writing except in volume.

and presumably the HG has yet more demands on her time.

Yes, you're absolutely right! Whereas I'm coming at things from an academic perspective - and even back when I was at school, I hated PE, cookery, anything you didn't do sitting at a desk - and my mind boggles at a hot weather school day which (I think it's in Head Girl of the CS) has lessons only from 8.30 till one (which somehow also includes prep), then lunch, rest and things like singing and handcrafts until after Abendessen when it's cool enough to play games.

I have noticed that the HG usually offers to take the worst nights at prep - thereby leaving even less time for their own work.

By the Swiss books, they do take time out for boating and swimming, ski-ing, etc., or have afternoons devoted to games, but they make up for it with the huge amounts of prep they do - for seniors, two hours a night and time on Saturday mornings, IIRC. How does that compare with the amount of homework expected of fifteen year olds and upwards today, anyone?

I have noticed that the HG usually offers to take the worst nights at prep - thereby leaving even less time for their own work.

What I find hard to imagine is that all the girls get the same amount of time for prep. Someone who is bright and a quick worker could get done in half the time, and then just sit there with a book, while someone who could get the work done but was slow might need more than the required amount of time.

It's funny, it wasn't until I saw that list that I realized how many members of Madge's family, extended and adoptive, have been head girls.

Juliet - her ward
Joey - her sister
Robin - her ward
Peggy - her niece
Bride - her niece
Josette - her daughter
Len - her niece

3 of the La Rochelle gang (Beth, Julie and Betsy) got to be HG too, and Janice would probably have been another had the series gone on a little longer.

Alison H wrote:

3 of the La Rochelle gang (Beth, Julie and Betsy) got to be HG too, and Janice would probably have been another had the series gone on a little longer.

Would it have been Janice or Ailie, I wonder. Janice seems like a better choice, but EBD's mind works in odd ways!

Kate wrote:

Alison H wrote:

3 of the La Rochelle gang (Beth, Julie and Betsy) got to be HG too, and Janice would probably have been another had the series gone on a little longer.

Would it have been Janice or Ailie, I wonder. Janice seems like a better choice, but EBD's mind works in odd ways!

I think Ailie was destined to be Games Prefect ... I've always thought it would be Janice for HG, Adrienne Desmoines Second Pree, Ailie Games Pree and Judy, Second Games Pree.

What I do remember, though, was the problems that successive years of Head Girls and Boys had with combining the work of being HG/B and their academic work. In my year the Head Girl crashed rather badly in her A levels as she simply couldn't put in the time. I don't think it was at all fair to ruin her intended career (and it did - she had to become something quite different) "for the good of the school". Whatever that means :dontknow:

Coming back to the CS Head Girls, I think Cornelia should have been made one instead of Maria...wasn't it rather unfair to put the extra responsibility on Maria, when they knew about her father etc...probably contributed to her nervous breakdown.

Author:	Róisín [ Wed Sep 12, 2007 6:39 pm ]
Post subject:	Girls: Girls who lead the School
Let's talk about those girls who lead the school. Who was the best headgirl of the Chalet School and why? Were there any girls that should have been headgirl and weren't? Or vice versa - any girls who got the job but didn't really deserve it? How does EBD's idea of a good/bad headgirl compare to those in other school stories? Do all of EBD's favourite characters become headgirl regardless of whether they are suited to the job? Here is a full (I hope! ) list of headgirls: Gisela Marani Juliet Carrick Bette Rincini Grizel Cochrane Mary Burnett Joey Bettany Louise Redfield Gillian Linton Hilary Burn Maria Marani Cornelia Flower Robin Humphries Mary Shand Elizabeth Arnett Jesanne Gellibrand Beth Chester Gillian Culver Jacynth Hardy Peggy Bettany Loveday Perowne Bride Bettany Julie Lucy Betsy Lucy Elinor Pennell Mary-Lou Trelawney Josette Russell Maeve Bettany Rosamund Lilley Len Maynard If a clear few favourites emerge from this discussion, I'll add a poll to see who we vote the best or worst

Author:	linda [ Wed Sep 12, 2007 6:54 pm ]
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I always thought that EBD's most surprising choice was Elizabeth Arnett, considering her behaviour in earlier books. I know we were told that she had matured and changed, but I would have thought her previous reputation would have made it very difficult for her to keep order successfully - however much she had reformed. Having said that, I don't know who I would have put in her place at that time.

Author:	Rosalin [ Wed Sep 12, 2007 7:25 pm ]
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What about Marilyn Evans? The Head Girl who most surprised me was Jesanne Gellibrand as she was relatively old when she came to the school. But I'm quite foggy on seniors in general during the Armishire period as the focus is much more on the juniors than at any other point in the series. Clem Barras is one person I think should have been Head Girl but wasn't, she seems quite well suited to the role. Gisela to me is the best Head Girl, although she was in a very different school to the one that Len led. I'm not sure if Gisela was a bit idealised but she did a really good job. While it's true that most, if not all of EBD's favourite characters were Head Girl, they were mostly Head Girl material, probably because they were her favourites. The only one I would take issue with is Joey. Frieda is much more mature at this point, and seems to me not nearly as colourless as EBD says she is. I think she could have been a good leader, and is much more balanced than Joey. But of course she would never have been chosen over OOAO Joey! The thing that has always bugged me about Head Girls is that Maeve came after Josette, despite being born a few years before her. I know it is just one of a long list of EBDisms, but it is the only one which struck me strongly when reading the books as a child. Surely she could have got right the relative ages of the Russell/Maynard/Bettany clan girls

Author:	Alison H [ Wed Sep 12, 2007 8:15 pm ]
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She concentrates on certain groups of girls, which is as you'd expect, so some popular characters like Vi Lucy don't get to be Head Girl as they are the same age as another major character who does (if that makes sense!), whereas in age groups which aren't particularly featured we end up with minor characters like Elinor Pennell getting the job. It annoys me that Ros Lilley disappears whilst she's Head Girl - especially as IMHO Jo Scott should've got the job instead! I'm not convinced that either Josette or Maeve are obvious leaders either, but I think EBD got stuck because she had a gap between Mary-Lou and Len and choosing clan members seemed like an easy solution. Gisela is my favourite Head Girl but, as Rosalin said, the school was very different in her day to how it was later on. I also think it's a shame that so few girls from non-English-speaking countries got to be Head Girl: I know that for a long time there weren't many Continental girls at the school, and it was only by the time of Jack Lambert's group that the school was becoming really international again, but EBD could've given someone like Natalie Mensch a chance.

Author:	Mel [ Wed Sep 12, 2007 9:06 pm ]
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I think it was inevitabele that Jo became Head Girl and as she featured so largely in so many books, we have a good idea how well - or not- she fared. With some others, there is so little to go on e.g. Juliet, Maria, Maeve , Josette and Rosamund to name but a few. Peggy and Bride feature quite largely in contrast and of course Mary-Lou and Len do too. I wonder why Beth rather than Daisy became HG out of that group.

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Author:	jennifer [ Thu Sep 13, 2007 2:33 am ]
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?aisy was games prefect at the time Beth was HG. Maeve was older than Josette, but Josette was 'brilliantly clever' while Maeve was a bit of a slacker, so I don't think the reverse in form is actually an EBDism. I think both Joey and Peggy were over-rated as head girls - Joey did a good job, but wasn't perfect and was certainly not as strong or leading a headgirl as someone like Gisela, or Bride, or even Mary-Lou. Peggy came across as too sweet and passive. Her one big fuss as head girls is completely solved by other people, with no need for her to get her hands dirty. Favorites - Bride, I think. I like her as a character, she's made headgirl abruptly and to her great surprise, and she does a good job during a very difficult period, overseeing the merger with a new school, and preparing for a school move. I also like Gisela - she's calm and steady and asserts her authority with maturity, again in a difficult period as they were still working out the system. I would like to have seen Jo Scott as head girl, as well as Clem Barras. They're both nice, practical, friendly girls who would have no trouble with the job, and would do it in style, rather than just going through the motions.

Author:	Fiona Mc [ Thu Sep 13, 2007 6:49 am ]
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linda wrote: I always thought that EBD's most surprising choice was Elizabeth Arnett, considering her behaviour in earlier books. I know we were told that she had matured and changed, but I would have thought her previous reputation would have made it very difficult for her to keep order successfully - however much she had reformed. Having said that, I don't know who I would have put in her place at that time. Biddy O'Ryan? I always thought she should have been head girl mainly cos she was always one of my favourite characters. Popular, caring and a good leader and she had been Form prefect before.

Author:	Elbee [ Thu Sep 13, 2007 7:46 am ]
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The appointment of Jesanne was the one that made no sense whatsoever to me, even as a child! She had hardly been at the school (one or two terms?) so there must surely have been others more suitable. Josette and Maeve did seem contrived, as if EBD wanted to keep it in the family rather than let anybody else shine. I would have liked to see Rosamund Lilley last a bit longer rather than just disappear - although she was quiet I think she would have been good. Jo Scott should definitely have been head girl too. I hadn't thought of Biddy O'Ryan before, Fiona, but you're right, she would have been good in the role too. My favourites are Gisela and then probably Bride.

Author:	jennifer [ Thu Sep 13, 2007 8:12 am ]
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Jesanne is Headgirl in Mystery, which was written well after the preceeding few books, chronology wise. Actually, the ages in Mystery, Tom and Rosalie are all over the place, with some characters (like Jacynth Hardy) jumping from Lower Fourth to second prefect in a single year, and others randomly showing up as middles after they should have graduated (like Kitty Burnett). Biddy starts out Robin's age, but then lags behind. She'd have been a good candidate during the war years, after Robin was head girl, and I think would have been good at it as well. Oh, and don't forget poor Mary Shand, who was headgirl in Highland Twins and then demoted to senior librarian in Lavender Laughs with no explanation! I actually like Grizel's tenure too - it's more realistic than Joey's in that Grizel is reluctant to do it, but steps up out of a sense of duty, and does a decent job even though she has to struggle with both the job, and other people's perceptions of her.

Author:	LizB [ Thu Sep 13, 2007 10:24 am ]
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The appointment of Head Girls sometimes seems to be a last-minute thought, without much consistency in when it is decided who is to be head girl and when they are told. For example Jo knew at the beginning of Eustacia that she would be head girl after that term. Mary-Lou was told part-way through Coming of Age that she was to be the next head girl. Peggy didn't find out until she got back to school that term. Bride had a special holiday-time visit to let her know. In one of the books - Shocks? I don't think they even know who will be prefects before they get back to school.

Author:	Fiona Mc [ Sun Sep 16, 2007 7:53 am ]
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I was always disappointed Louise Redfield was made Head Girl over Margia Stevens or Elsie Carr. I would have loved to see someone from the Quinette made Head Girl other than Corney who seemed to get it by default. I also felt sorry that Ilonka missed out with the gap in Exile as she was meant to be Head Girl after Hilary (See A united CS. Gillian and Hilary discuss Ilonka for Head Girl). I also think EBD added extra years so certain people could be made Head Girl like Julie Lucy and Elinor Pennell. Blossom Willoughby drops a few levels when she was with Katherine Gordon and Hilary Wilson as does Sybil. Sybil and Blossom should have been in Betsy Lucy's year

Author:	Caroline [ Sun Sep 16, 2007 3:06 pm ]
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I'd agree - Margia seemed destined to be Headgirl following Joey, and I'm sure would have made a good job of it. And the reaction of the rest of the school to the Quintette being the senior prefects would have been entertaining, too. I'd add Clem Barrass - she seemed a cast iron certainty when she arrived at the school, and she only even made Games Pree because Annis left a term early. In classic school story terms, Elizabeth Arnett makes sense (bad girl made good); in the same vein, you could say Stacie should have made senior prefect of some description, as should Annis Lovell and maybe Lavender Leigh. I would have liked to see Polly Heriot as HG, too. And Jo Scott, of course, instead of dippy Maeve. Most improbable HGs? Jesanne, as others have said, plus Loveday Perowne and Elinor Pennell. The latter two are almost entirely anonymous until appointed. Give me Tom or Bride and Sybil or Lalla Winterton any day (one of the Wintertons should have Made Good, surely!)

Author:	JayB [ Sun Sep 16, 2007 3:42 pm ]
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I think Dickie Christy would have made a much better Head Girl than Peggy. She seems to be a natural leader - even when Peggy is HG, Dickie often takes the lead. If Jesanne could be HG after such a short time at school, I don't see why Dickie couldn't. And yes, if they didn't want to appoint another Bettany immediately after Peggy, Tom would have been a much better choice than Loveday. Even without being HG she was a strong influence among her friends and in the school as a whole. I think Bride did a better job than Peggy, but I think the reason Tom thought she herself hadn't been appointed - her language - wasn't really sufficient cause to pass her over.

Author:	Lesley [ Sun Sep 16, 2007 7:55 pm ]
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JayB wrote: I think Bride did a better job than Peggy, but I think the reason Tom thought she herself hadn't been appointed - her language - wasn't really sufficient cause to pass her over. It wasn't a good reason - if it were Joey would never have been appointed either.

Author:	Ray [ Sun Sep 16, 2007 8:02 pm ]
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LizB wrote: The appointment of Head Girls sometimes seems to be a last-minute thought, without much consistency in when it is decided who is to be head girl and when they are told. For example Jo knew at the beginning of Eustacia that she would be head girl after that term. Mary-Lou was told part-way through Coming of Age that she was to be the next head girl. Peggy didn't find out until she got back to school that term. Bride had a special holiday-time visit to let her know. In one of the books - Shocks? I don't think they even know who will be prefects before they get back to school. I think that had a lot to do with the amount of notice for people leaving. In Peggy, there's a tremendous clearout - some expected and some not so expected - so the Head probably couldn't fix on prefects until she knew exactly who would make up the sixth form. The same thing applies in Shocks - except moreso because the entire sixth form and special sixth more or less depart for the Oberland. By contrast, there's no danger of Mary-Lou leaving in the summer between Coming of Age and Richenda, so it's an easy and safe appointment. I suspect the norm was for the prefects themselves, by and large, to know or find out during the holidays but for the school to only learn of it on the first evening of term and all we hear about are the special circumstances - or, in the case of Joey and Mary-Lou, the inevitability! As far as Sybs and Blossom go, they actually don't slip back that far - in fact Sybs is a prefect to Betsy Lucy's Head Girl (she gets co-opted in Genius). Given that neither Sybs nor Blossom are said to be particularly academically gifted, the fact that they stay on one extra year isn't all that surprising. (Though, in true EBD style, the reason Sybs gets co-opted as a prefect in Genius is because she's said to be in her last year then, lo and behold, she's back again when Kathie Ferrars joins the school!) Ray procrastinating

Author:	Holly [ Sun Sep 16, 2007 8:11 pm ]
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I think that there were certain characters that you knew were going to end up as Head Girl, either because they were members of the extended Bettany clan or because they had been spotlighted early in their school careers. It's funny, it wasn't until I saw that list that I realized how many members of Madge's family, extended and adoptive, have been head girls. Juliet - her ward Joey - her sister Robin - her ward Peggy - her niece Bride - her niece Josette - her daughter Len - her niece Any school nowadays would probably be very careful not to have a situation like that develop for fear of being accused of favouritism. As far as the best head girl goes, I haven't read all the books but Gisela stands out for me as one of the best; I thought that she rose to the demands of the job admirably in difficult circumstances - being first is often tough and Gisela was also adjusting to going to school for the first time too.

Author:	Mel [ Sun Sep 16, 2007 8:59 pm ]
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Also Maeve - her niece to slip in after Josette.

Author:	Sunglass [ Tue Sep 18, 2007 5:33 pm ]
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I always think of the issue of favouritism and the Russell/Bettany clan and the Headgirl position -- when you think of other classic school stories featuring multiple members of a prominent family, like the Kingscote books of Antonia Forest with six Marlow girls who are talented actresses, Games Captains, prefects, Head Girls and Patrol Leaders, favouritism is both resented by other girls who dislike the family's prominence, and even seen to influence staff decisions re casting plays, filling teams and offering scholarships. It's seen as a natural consequence of a large and gifted family in a smallish enclosed environment. In the CS, favouritism is only ever brought up by 'bad' characters, like Eilunedd Vaughn, and the mere idea is stomped upon immediately by the 'good' ones. Surely even the most average middles might well have seized on Head Girl Selection by Clan as a reason to legitimate disobedience? Mind you, I'm far from clear on what differentiates a good head girl from an indifferent one. OK, we're told about Marilyn Evans concentrating on her own work to the detriment of the school (not unreasonably, I'd have said, given that she was presumably in her final year and preparing to take some form of exam), but is anyone else ever mentioned as a poor HG? (And is the implication that the perfect HG doesn't have to have a career after school, with the selfish bother of needing to work academically hard? That would seem to weight things towards those who just go home to help with the babies and take singing lessons after school...) In terms of what we see the HG do - preside at prefects' meetings, give out prefect jobs, read at Prayers, enforce discipline, come up with ideas for a Sale or entertainment - I don't see a difference between any of those HGs we see in action. I suppose the Good CS HG quality is something other than an ability to be a competent administrator, and is more to do with incarnating some kind of spirit of the school...? But honestly, do we see Joey, or any of the Bettany/Russell clan, exuding school spirit any more than anyone else?

Author:	JayB [ Tue Sep 18, 2007 8:51 pm ]
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Prefects supervise prep, and often say they couldn't get any of their own work done because the Middles were playing up. Maybe Marilyn was in the habit of leaving all the supervision duties to the other prefects and not taking her turn? In the later books, I think most of the Head Girls have career plans - Len, Rosamund, Maeve, Mary Lou and Elinor do.

Author:	Sunglass [ Wed Sep 19, 2007 9:13 am ]
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Quote: Prefects supervise prep, and often say they couldn't get any of their own work done because the Middles were playing up. That's what I meant - if even being an ordinary prefect means you lose an evening's work on prep supervision duty (and presumably can't make it up later, given the CS policy on the dangers of overwork) it strikes me as an extraordinary thing to ask of a girl whose family are paying hefty fees for her to attend a good school to get a good education - and presumably the HG has yet more demands on her time. For those HGs who plan to go on to university, their official duty to the school seems at cross purposes with their other role as pupils. I simply find it hard to see how any of them ever got to continue their studies on the relatively small amount of work they must have been able to do during the short school hours. HGs in other school stories - I'm thinking of Karen Marlow in Antonia Forest's Kingscote books, or her prefect Janice Scott, and Winifred James in Blyton's St Clare's books - are often seen primarily as notable for their cleverness, but not in the CS. There's Special Sixth, of course, but that's not necesarily a class for the academic achievers, just one for specialisms.

Author:	Mel [ Wed Sep 19, 2007 9:29 am ]
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It's as though EBD sees cleverness as a gift which one has or not as the case may be. Joey for instance picks up languages very easily, but there is little evidence of her working at them, or indeed at her writing except in volume. The only one we really see working, as in being self-critical and struggling for perfection, is Nina Rutherford. In Chalet Land if you are naturally clever and do your prep you get to Oxford. I think EBD was a bit vague about syllabuses to cover, therefore it didn't matter if time was lost through taking Middles' prep, boating three afternoons a week, Dom Sci one day a week etc.

Author:	Sunglass [ Wed Sep 19, 2007 9:56 am ]
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Quote: In Chalet Land if you are naturally clever and do your prep you get to Oxford. I think EBD was a bit vague about syllabuses to cover, therefore it didn't matter if time was lost through taking Middles' prep, boating three afternoons a week, Dom Sci one day a week etc. Yes, you're absolutely right! Whereas I'm coming at things from an academic perspective - and even back when I was at school, I hated PE, cookery, anything you didn't do sitting at a desk - and my mind boggles at a hot weather school day which (I think it's in Head Girl of the CS) has lessons only from 8.30 till one (which somehow also includes prep), then lunch, rest and things like singing and handcrafts until after Abendessen when it's cool enough to play games. Quote: It's as though EBD sees cleverness as a gift which one has or not as the case may be. Joey for instance picks up languages very easily, but there is little evidence of her working at them, or indeed at her writing except in volume. Yes, again. I've at times found quite disturbing the fact that CS girls are so quick to label themselves as 'duds' at languages or at all lessons, or to label other people clever, as though it's a given - despite the continual emphasis on Margot's 'natural' cleverness not being enough without 'steady work'.

Author:	JackieP [ Wed Sep 19, 2007 11:15 am ]
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Sunglass wrote: and presumably the HG has yet more demands on her time. I'm not sure about more demands on a HG's time (although HG's always did seem to be included in any delegations to Mistresses!) - but I have noticed that the HG usually offers to take the worst nights at prep - thereby leaving even less time for their own work. JackieP

Author:	JayB [ Wed Sep 19, 2007 12:40 pm ]
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Sunglass wrote: Yes, you're absolutely right! Whereas I'm coming at things from an academic perspective - and even back when I was at school, I hated PE, cookery, anything you didn't do sitting at a desk - and my mind boggles at a hot weather school day which (I think it's in Head Girl of the CS) has lessons only from 8.30 till one (which somehow also includes prep), then lunch, rest and things like singing and handcrafts until after Abendessen when it's cool enough to play games. I think in the early days the school was less academically focused. They didn't go in for public exams, and most of the girls weren't going on to higher education or a career. So taking time out from lessons wasn't such an issue. By the Swiss books, they do take time out for boating and swimming, ski-ing, etc., or have afternoons devoted to games, but they make up for it with the huge amounts of prep they do - for seniors, two hours a night and time on Saturday mornings, IIRC. How does that compare with the amount of homework expected of fifteen year olds and upwards today, anyone? It may be a difference between day and boarding schools - at a day school, it might be expected that girls would do swimming, boating etc with their families in the evenings and at weekends, and school was for lessons. JackieP said: Quote: I have noticed that the HG usually offers to take the worst nights at prep - thereby leaving even less time for their own work. To go back to the original point about Marilyn Evans' shortcomings, maybe she didn't do this - or maybe she would be so focused on her own work, she wouldn't notice when the Middles were slacking at their prep, if they slacked quietly.

Author:	Sunglass [ Wed Sep 19, 2007 12:54 pm ]
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Quote: By the Swiss books, they do take time out for boating and swimming, ski-ing, etc., or have afternoons devoted to games, but they make up for it with the huge amounts of prep they do - for seniors, two hours a night and time on Saturday mornings, IIRC. How does that compare with the amount of homework expected of fifteen year olds and upwards today, anyone? I went to secondary school in Ireland during the 1980s, and two hours of prep a night for seniors seems very little to me. It's not comparing like with like obviously - and one could argue, I suppose, that you could work more concentratedly in a supervised environment than at home - but during my two final years at school, before the Irish equivalent of A-levels, I would have been doing four hours and more every night, and things got far busier once you got into the exam revision period. Obviously, the CS would never have stood for this, as it wouldn't have stood for the enormous weight of books and notes we lugged back and forth to school every day. I fear I would have been precisely the Marilyn Evans kind of Bad Head Girl - it would have been a matter of total indifference to me whether the Middles rioted in prep or not, as long as they did it in such a way as not to disturb me. Make faces, pass notes (if Tom Gay isn't about), ask each other for rubbers, make inkblots, tilt your chairs, tear your geography books in half - but don't make me have to notice it...

Author:	Lottie [ Wed Sep 19, 2007 1:43 pm ]
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JackieP wrote: I have noticed that the HG usually offers to take the worst nights at prep - thereby leaving even less time for their own work. I always assumed that it was because the Head Girl was most likely to be able to quell the middles that she took the worst night. The other bad nights usually seem to go to other strong prefects, such as the Second Prefect and the Games Prefect.

Author:	jennifer [ Wed Sep 19, 2007 1:44 pm ]
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What I find hard to imagine is that all the girls get the same amount of time for prep. Someone who is bright and a quick worker could get done in half the time, and then just sit there with a book, while someone who could get the work done but was slow might need more than the required amount of time. I wonder what the girls who were slow workers, or needed more time to do things did, when they were severely limited in the amount of time they could study, particularly when they were behind in their languages.

Author:	Róisín [ Wed Sep 19, 2007 1:54 pm ]
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I think they were allowed to sit with a book if they were finished early. For the slower girls, I would imagine that they were let off with less work to do. I get the feeling that the amount of prep they were set and even the amount of classes they attended, was tailored to the girl herself, and I'm sure they took the amount of time allotted to prep into consideration.

Author:	Mrs Redboots [ Wed Sep 19, 2007 6:49 pm ]
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jennifer wrote: What I find hard to imagine is that all the girls get the same amount of time for prep. Someone who is bright and a quick worker could get done in half the time, and then just sit there with a book, while someone who could get the work done but was slow might need more than the required amount of time. I was at boarding-school in the 1960s and we had, I think, about 90 minutes of "formal" prep in the evenings - bounded by bells, during which silence was enforced, the younger girls were supervised, and work generally was done. There were also two hours on a Saturday morning. If you had finished, or hadn't a huge amount of work to do that evening (it happened), you could read. And if you hadn't finished, well, they didn't stop you working until your bed-bell went! But once you were about Middle Vth (sorry, year 10), you tended to get several days to do any given piece of work, so you could schedule your work fairly easily.

Author:	Joan the Dwarf [ Wed Sep 19, 2007 7:41 pm ]
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I remember reading a lot of books and writing a lot of stories during prep sessions when I'd finished my work... In my final year I took preps, and though I generally didn't get much work done, they were shorter than senior prep times, so it wasn't a completely wasted evening. And sometimes the little darlings let me get on with my own work. What I do remember, though, was the problems that successive years of Head Girls and Boys had with combining the work of being HG/B and their academic work. In my year the Head Girl crashed rather badly in her A levels as she simply couldn't put in the time. I don't think it was at all fair to ruin her intended career (and it did - she had to become something quite different) "for the good of the school". Whatever that means

Author:	Jennie [ Thu Sep 20, 2007 10:09 am ]
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That's why I objected to the attitude to Marilyn Evans. The girl was entitled to put her work first, and that's what her parents were paying the fees for, not for her to act as an unpaid member of staff.

Author:	Mrs Redboots [ Fri Sep 21, 2007 8:25 pm ]
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Our lot, the Head Girl always had to give up being in a school team to enable her to cope; as she was invariably on a team, I don't think you could be chosen if you weren't good at games, this was always rather heart-breaking for her!

Author:	Loryat [ Tue Sep 25, 2007 4:36 pm ]
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My favourite HGs are Joey and Grizel, because I think they're the most realistically presented. The rest are too perfect by far. Even in books which are dedicated to new-Head-Girl-struggles-in-her-new-position storylines, eg Bride or Peggy, I don't think the HGs are very realistically presented. And that goes for the majority of prefect bodies, as well. They are superhuman!

Author:	JoMoran [ Thu Feb 21, 2008 10:22 pm ]
Post subject:	Links to Madge and head girls
Quote: It's funny, it wasn't until I saw that list that I realized how many members of Madge's family, extended and adoptive, have been head girls. Juliet - her ward Joey - her sister Robin - her ward Peggy - her niece Bride - her niece Josette - her daughter Len - her niece Do you think it is favouritism ?? Is it more the fact that in the later examples (Peggy, Bride and so on) these girls were at the school so long and therefore become Head Girls because they have such a following in the school, a lot of experience of the ways of the school and have earnt respect from their peers and the younger girls ? I agree that in contrast some of the other appointments are interesting because the girls seem to have come to school so late and haven't exactly stood out either - Jesanne, Elinor Pennell etc. Perhaps this was just EBD's way of making sure it wasn't just always the Bettany/Russell/Maynards that got the look in all the time.