St. Nicholas
The CBB -> Starting again at Sarres...
#1: St. Nicholas Author: catherine, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 1:01 pm

This wasn't ever archived so I'm going to repost it - in bits for readability!

It was the middle of August and the mountain train had just drawn up at the Gornetz Platz station in Switzerland. Anybody watching would have seen a young woman step off the train, attired smartly but casually and make her way out of the station. She paused outside to get her bearings and as she did so, she took off her hat, shaking out her chestnut hair, which was cut into a fashionable bob, letting the breeze ruffle through her hair and cool her down.
“Mops! Mops Robertson!” A shout assailed her, interrupting her enjoyment of a moment or two’s peace. She looked round curiously for as far as she was aware, the only people on the Platz who knew her were the two Heads, Miss Annersley and Miss Wilson, Matron Lloyd and Matron Rider of St Mildred’s, none of whom would have called out to her in such a manner. ‘Mops’ was a nickname from her time as a pupil of the Chalet School, which had come about due to her full and usually untidy mop of hair at the time and one by which only fellow pupils had addressed her. For a moment her mind flashed to the Maynard triplets, who she knew lived on the Platz, but almost instantly she remembered Miss Annersley had said they were on holiday in Tyrol – the birthplace of the Chalet School.
“Kathie – here!” a voice at her elbow remarked laughingly and Kathie found herself gazing down – for she was a tall young lady – at a young lady two or three years younger than herself, with dark hair and twinkling brown eyes.
“Anne! Anne Webster!” she exclaimed, recognising an Old Girl and former friend. “What on earth are you doing here?”
“Same as you,” Anne returned, with a wicked grin.
“Me? But I’m not here on holiday! I’m here to start a new job – at the Chalet School, actually. They’re starting a Junior School in September and I’ve accepted the job as Head of it,” Kathie explained.
“I know,” Anne said placidly.
“You know? Of course! You must still be in touch with Bride Bettany and she’ll have told you!” Kathie remembered that Anne had been one of Bride’s friends.
“No. At least, I am in touch with her and she’s Bride Carrington now but that’s not how I know. After my year at Millies, I went to train as a Kindergarten teacher but the school I was working at had to close down at the end of this year – not enough pupils to keep it going – and on impulse, I wrote to the Head asking if she knew of any vacancies either at the Swiss Branch or the English Branch. She wrote back, telling me of the latest developments and suggesting I apply for the post of Kindergarten teacher here. I did and I got the job! She explained I’d be working under you and that at first there may not be a lot of work but she fully expected it to grow and that due to the varying ages of the children, it may be necessary to have more than one class.”
“She said that to me too,” Kathie looked thoughtful. “She did mention in the last letter I received that she was waiting on confirmation from another candidate for the post of Kindergarten teacher. I never thought it would be you, though!”
“I’m afraid so,” Anne smiled.
“Afraid?” Kathie began to laugh. “Anne, don’t say that! I’m not an ogre as you well know and I’m delighted to know I’ll have a familiar face by me! To tell the truth,” she confided, “I’m awfully nervous. I’ve never had this much authority before and I’m awfully worried I’ll screw it up and at my old School too! Miss Annersley is so competent and good at what she does and I’d hate to think I’d let her down!”
“You won’t,” a voice sounded behind them and both jumped, going varying shades of red as they found themselves face to face with their old Headmistress. “I see you found each other then?” she continued, taking no notice of their discomfort although her eyes showed she was distinctly amused. “We wondered if you would. It may not be a busy station but it can be hard to spot people at times! Come along with me, I’ve brought the car, it’s far too hot to walk but it’s only a five minute trip in the car.” She led the way, enquiring after their health and their journey and generally keeping the talk on a level plane until they reached the School.
“I’ll show you both to the Staff Splashery, you’ve just time to freshen up before Mittagessen,” she remarked as she parked the car. “It will be in my quarters, by the way. Karen and the maids are all on holiday so we cook for ourselves. It’s too hot for anything other than salad though. After that, I’ll show you both your rooms and you can have a rest. Time enough for getting down to business tomorrow!” she laughed and getting out the car, led the way inside.

Having assured herself that Anne, at least, could remember the way from the Staff Splashery to the Study, the Head left them to freshen up. Old habits die hard and both were quick in their movements, anxious not to keep Miss Annersley waiting. Clean and tidy once more, nerves got the better of them and they looked at each other, each seeing their own emotions reflected in the other’s face. Kathie was the first to break the silence, beginning to laugh.
“This is ridiculous!” she said, laughing. “We’re both grown adults and it’s years since we were both at school but we’re behaving like a couple of kids that have been summoned to pay for our misdeeds!!”
“We are, rather!” Anne joined in. “Come on, let’s go and get this over!! If others can do it, we can too!” she added, rather vaguely but Kathie understood.

The pair made their way along to the study, Anne desperately hoping she remembered the way correctly. She did and after a moment’s hesitation, Kathie, as the elder of the two, knocked at the door. Miss Annersley’s voice bade them enter and they slipped in quietly, each only just restraining themselves from bobbing their curtsies! Their four Seniors, who had been sitting chatting, noticed and broke into peals of laughter.
“I think they need reminding they’re staff and not pupils now, Hilda!” Nell Wilson said wickedly. “We can’t have them curtseying every time they see one of us!!”
“We most certainly can’t!” the Head agreed, laughing but she took pity on the red faces and discomfort of the pair. “It’s all right, you two, you’re not the first Old Girls who’ve almost curtseyed and you won’t be the last,” she said, with a smile. “Sit yourselves down and relax, do! You know quite well we don’t bite and since you’ll be working alongside us now, it’s time you got to know us as people and not as your mistresses. And that means no titles!” she added, her eyes dancing wickedly. “You know our Christian Names quite well and you’re to use them! The rest of the staff all do so you’ll feel very out of things if you don’t!”
“You’ll soon get used to it,” Nell added. “Enough of the formalities, however. I’m hungry,” she said plaintively, looking towards Hilda whose turn it had been to prepare the lunch. She laughed and rose to her feet.
“Come and help me then!” she retorted. “No, you two! Stay where you are! You’ve had a long journey and it’s time you had a rest,” she added, as the youngest pair started to rise. They sat down again and the two Heads disappeared, returning a few minutes later with lemonade and plates of salad for everyone. By the time their plates had been cleared and coffee had been drunk, the two were beginning to feel at ease in their new positions and their awkward demeanours had disappeared. The two Matrons saw to washing up and clearing away leaving the other four to take a tour of St. Nicholas.
“We’ve not put any furniture in yet,” Nell remarked, as she led the way. “It’s all here but we thought it would be best for you to organise it as you see fit,” she explained. “This is really going to be your domain and we’ll have very little to do with it so feel free to do as you please. We’ll both be on tap for advice but other than that, you’ve a free rein.”
“Thank you,” Kathie said appreciatively. “I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
“Good!” Hilda smiled. “I’ll give you the lists you need and we’ll run through the details tomorrow but for today, I suggest you rest and familiarise yourself with the House. Here we are!” she unlocked the front door of the Chalet and led the way inside. “As with the main Chalet, the kitchens, Spiessaal, Splasheries, laundries are on the ground floor. Your study is too, Kathie. You’ve your own sitting room, kitchen and toilet but we’ve decided against anymore living quarters for the moment. There is a bedroom and a bathroom but neither are furnished, I know you said you’d rather be with the rest of the staff than in your own quarters, Kathie so we’ve left it at that. As we expand, as I fully expect we will, you may well want to move into your own quarters and we’ll organise it accordingly. For the moment though, you’ve your own room on the staff corridor here. Any guests, of course, will be accommodated in the main Chalet. There’s also a small office adjoining your study since you will need secretarial support at times. We’ve engaged a nineteen year old to help you there. She was midway through a secretarial course when her brother was taken ill and moved out here. He’s not in danger anymore but will need to remain for at least a year and naturally, she wants to stay where her family are for the moment. Rather than lose the skills she’s gained, we’re giving her some work here. She’ll be with you three mornings and one afternoon a week to start with and we’ll increase if necessary.” She unlocked the door to the study and the pair found themselves in room more or less the same size as the Head’s own study, the furniture, again almost the same as the Head’s, stacked up against the wall ready for Kathie to organise. Further investigation revealed the small secretary’s office and the sitting room. The kitchen and toilet were fairly standard and then they turned their attention to the rest of the rooms on the ground floor. Again, these were more or less as expected, the height of the basins and toilets in the Splasheries taking account of the small size of the pupils. Upstairs were the staffroom and sitting room, ten classrooms, most of which would stand empty for the moment, all very bare and again with furniture stacked up against the wall. The girls’ common rooms were also here – four of them. The next floor had the dormitories which were all ready furnished and decorated in keeping with the flower theme at the main Chalet. Matron’s room, a small San and the staff bedrooms, bathrooms and attics were on the top floor. Kathie and Anne had bedrooms next to each other, Kathie’s being of a larger size. Both were decorated attractively, the counterpanes on the bed matching the wallpaper and their trunks were set in a corner, ready for unpacking.
“And this is where we shall leave you,” Nell smiled. “Make yourselves at home and have a rest. Kaffee und Kuchen, if you want it, will be at sixteen thirty and if you want either of us for anything in the meantime, you know where we are.”
“Thank you,” the pair thanked their hosts who, both having duties of their own to attend to, retired, Hilda pressing the keys to the Chalet into Kathie’s hands as she left.
“Well I don’t know about you, but I want a shower and bed,” Kathie announced.
“Oh me too!” Anne murmured.
“I’ll fish my alarm clock out so we don’t sleep past sixteen hundred,” Kathie suggested. “If we do, neither of us will sleep tonight and I know those four are all early risers. There’s a huge amount to do as well.”

Last edited by catherine on Wed Apr 12, 2006 1:01 pm; edited 3 times in total

 

#2:  Author: catherine, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 1:03 pm

The following day, both rose early for the Heads had warned them that by the middle of the day, it would be unbearably hot and the idea of doing anything at all strenuous would not be in the least appealing. They were both looking forward to the coming term, which was a good three weeks away yet, with a certain amount of excitement, not least because it would mean the renewal of friendships made at School. For Kathie, both Peggy Burnett, PT mistress and Gillian Culver, Secretary at St. Mildred’s had been contemporaries of hers and for Anne, Rosalind Yolland, Art mistress, had been a close friend. In addition, all five had been pupils at the same time, albeit two or three forms apart so knew each other very well. As Miss Wilson had observed to Miss Annersley when both appointments had been confirmed, there would some riotous times in the staffroom when all five got together. Before all that, however, Kathie and Anne had a lot of work to do. Miss Annersley proposed that she run through the details she needed to with Kathie during the latter part of the day when it would be too hot for the more strenuous work and this left Kathie and Anne free to start in on the organisation of furniture.
“Suppose we start with my office, my sitting room and the staffroom and sitting room first?” Kathie suggested. “Then, at least, we’ll have somewhere to sit and relax for I warn you, I don’t intend to spend all my evenings over at the Chalet and somehow, I don’t think the Heads will want that either,” she added pensively.
“You think not?” Anne glanced at her. “They’ve been friendly enough – although it’s odd talking to them as colleagues and not mistresses!” she added with a laugh in which Kathie joined.
“That’s exactly what I mean though,” Kathie explained. “At the end of the day, when all is said and done, we are former pupils of theirs and as lovely as they have been, they can’t quite be themselves because they’ve a certain reputation to uphold. It’s rather the same as how we would feel if any of the children we’ve taught came back to spend time with us or work for us. We’d be friendly enough but we wouldn’t be able to tease each other and be silly because we’d have our dignity to maintain. That’s how they feel, I suppose and apart from having taught us previously, they are our employers and so, I suppose, have the right to hire and fire as they see fit.”
“I’d not thought of it like that but you’re right,” Anne agreed. “All right, Kathie, where do we start?”
“My quarters first, I think,” Kathie decided. “There’s no saying when a prospective parent may turn up wanting to have a look round and at the very least, they’d expect to see the Head’s office presentable! Come on, we have work to do!”

With the help of Gaudenz, the two soon had Kathie’s study looking like a study and not a room used to store furniture. Her desk was set in front of the windows with two chairs for visitors set in front of it. The telephone sat at one side of her desk with filing trays at the other. The drawers of the desk were empty as yet but Kathie would fill them at some point with stationery from the Stationery Room in the main Chalet. Each class in St. Nicholas would have its own Stationery Monitor who would collect requests for stationery every day. These, as in the upper school, would be signed off by the form mistress and two or three times a week, two of the older Juniors would go across to the main Chalet, hand in their requests and collect the stationery which would then be distributed. As the Junior House grew bigger, it may be necessary to provide a Stationery room but for the moment, the main Chalet would provide it. Opposite Kathie’s desk, set to one side and against the wall was the sofa, cushions neatly arranged on it and in the far corner was a stand for any ornaments and vases Kathie may want. On the back of the door was a hook for Kathie’s gown and the wall separating Kathie’s study from the office had a bookcase against it, with a locked filing cabinet set behind Kathie’s desk and in a corner.
“Just what a Head’s study should be!” Anne commented when they had finished and Kathie laughed before turning her attention to her sitting room. This was easily sorted out for the furniture was mainly wicker and therefore light and easy to move around. There were two sofas and two or three comfortable armchairs with a coffee table in the middle and a small bookcase and stand for any personal items Kathie may want to put in the room. Three or four pictures already hung on the walls and Kathie was quite satisfied with the result, although she admitted it would be more homely once she had photographs and the like set out. There were coffee making facilities in one corner of the room and coffee and milk were residing in the kitchen so Anne volunteered to make some cups whilst Kathie and Gaudenz rested. Kathie was an amiable young lady and her German was good enough to enable her to have a pleasant conversation with Gaudenz whilst they were waiting for Anne to return, which she did a few minutes later, a small amount of rummaging having produced a tray and a packet of biscuits which were gratefully received. The staffroom was next on the agenda and Kathie stood back, letting Anne give the instructions here for she realised that the staffroom would not be her domain and therefore it was not for her to decide where things should be placed. It was smaller than the staffroom in the main Chalet but then they would be a much smaller staff but each mistress would have her own desk and chair. Anne arranged it so that these were set at one end of the room, arranged informally, and at the other were a set of comfortable armchairs so that the staff could relax without having to go to the sitting room and therefore remain to chat with their colleagues. There were bookcases and filing cabinets and cupboards for storage too. The staff sitting room, again had light furniture in it and as well as sofas and armchairs, there were different sized coffee tables which were placed at various points throughout the room as well as some card tables propped up against a wall. A cupboard in one corner was revealed to hold some board games, cutlery and crockery and there were coffee making facilities and a tall bookcase too. There was also a sink and draining board so that the staff could wash up after themselves and as in Kathie’s sitting room, there were pictures hung on the wall. By this time it was almost Mittagessen and there was just time for them to wash and tidy themselves before they had to make their way across to Miss Annersley’s quarters, both profuse in their thanks to Gaudenz.

That afternoon, Anne found herself being purloined by Matron who demanded her help with the linen whilst Kathie settled down to talk to Miss Annersley about the forthcoming term. Miss Wilson had business of her own to attend to at St. Mildred’s so Kathie found herself left alone with the Head for the first time since she’d arrived. She couldn’t help but feel nervous for although she’d had plenty of experience, she had never been in charge and the fact that her first post as Head would be at her old School – and Head of a new venture for it at that, only increased her nervousness. If she made a mess of it, she felt would her name would be disgraced forever and it would be some time, if ever, before she could bring herself to face other Old Girls again. Miss Annersley, glancing over at her once or twice, as she rifled through her filing cabinet to find the papers she needed, guessed at her feelings and once she had what she needed, she turned to her.
“Come along into my sitting room; I want this to be more of an informal discussion than a meeting and we’ll be far more relaxed in there,” she smiled. Kathie rose and followed her but when she would have taken a chair opposite the Head, she found herself being guided towards the sofa and being sat down next to her. “Kathie, my dear girl, stop looking so anxious!” the Head chided gently. “I have complete faith in you and I know you will make a success of it.”
“But what if I don’t?” Kathie blurted out what was uppermost in her mind. “I couldn’t bear to let you down!”
“And you won’t,” the Head answered gently, giving Kathie’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “Kathie, I would not have given you the job, Old Girl or not, if I thought you couldn’t do it. I’m not asking you to take overall responsibility for the school, merely to run it on a day to day basis – put the needs, health, happiness and safety of your pupils first. And that, is something I am quite sure you will do. I’m not going to interfere with the decisions you make or the way you run it, unless I have serious concerns which I think is highly unlikely – but I will be here for help and advice. If you’re unsure about something or a something crops up that you feel is beyond you, then come and talk to me about it. I realise we’re not exactly next door but we’re not that far away and there’s always the phone. This is a new venture for this branch of the School and I hope it will work but if it doesn’t, then never mind. You were a very competent prefect, you have glowing references and you have always had an affinity with the Juniors. Remember to consult those that are working under you when you make a decision, take account of their views and feelings and listen to them when they come to you for help. You have plenty of experience in working with children, all you are doing now is taking it that bit further and overseeing the day to day running of it all. Do your best and nobody can expect anything more of you. And above all, stop looking as though I am going to eat you! I assure you human beings are not to my taste at all!” This, as she had intended it would, made Kathie laugh and visibly relax. The Head joined in the laugh and then turned to her papers. “To business!” she announced. “As you know, you have a mixture of boys and girls, which in itself is something completely new for us. At the moment, most of the children are local but a letter went out with the reports to tell parents about the venture and I fully expect to find we have several little ones accompanying their sisters in just under a month,” she smiled. “At the moment you have about eighteen children, they are of varying ages and naturally, nationalities vary too. Your English children are Kevin and Kester Russell, Felix and Felicity Maynard, Jean, Kenneth and James Morrison, Lucy Peters, Alice and Louise Johnstone, Christopher and Martin Graham, Susan Holmes and Susan Dickie. You also have Pierre de Bersac, Marguerite Levasseur – she’s known as Guita, apparently and Carlotta von Ahlen. Joey, for the first half of this term at any rate, intends to keep her own pair, Kevin and Kester, Carlotta and Pierre. Lucy Peters and the three Morrisons will also be day boarders, although like Joey’s contingent, that will probably change before the bad weather starts. That leaves you seven children, at the moment, for boarders – the two Grahams, the two Johnstones, Guita Levasseur, Susan Holmes and Susan Dickie.”
“A dormitory of five girls and one of two boys then,” Kathie ruminated and the Head nodded.
“Yes. As I say, that might change but at the moment, that is how things stand.”

 

#3:  Author: catherine, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 1:05 pm

The meeting went far more smoothly than Kathie had expected but then she had reckoned without the Head. Not for nothing had that lady been Headmistress for fifteen years or so. She was extremely skilled in putting people at their ease – when necessary – and very organised. She knew exactly what needed to be talked over and what could be left until a later date and she always ensured she had the information she needed at her fingertips. Long experience of teaching meant that she knew the questions people were likely to ask and the issues that were likely to worry people. She had also become adept at knowing how much information people could take on board and when to draw a meeting to a close, her teaching experience meaning that she could instantly recognise when somebody’s attention had started to wander and they were getting restless. She therefore ensured that the information given was necessary information and had an agenda of sorts planned out in her mind before the start of the meeting, so that she was able to direct it in the way she wanted it to go. It said a lot for her professionalism that people never realised how skilfully they were being managed and would leave with a feeling that their meeting with her had been successful, sometimes they would also be feeling a little dazed at the amount they had managed to get through. It was one of the many qualities about her that her staff appreciated – no meeting ever dragged; they were brisk, business like and to the point but there was never any sense of awkwardness.

On this occasion, Kathie left feeling relieved that it had gone smoothly and with her confidence and faith in her own ability restored, meaning that she was able to return to her work with a renewed sense of vigour and enthusiasm. She infected Anne as well and by the time the last week before term started arrived, the new chalet was looking like a proper school – “jus’ like the big school where Len an’ Con an’ Margot go,” Felicity Maynard, who had been allowed a sneak preview, said happily. She had been very anxious over the thought of going to school, not sure that she liked the idea of being away from her mother, albeit for just hours at a time, and despite Joey’s cuddles and reassurances that her home would still be there and Mamma would be waiting for her when she came home, there had been some prolonged episodes of crying that had alarmed her mother considerably. Kathie, on hearing of it from Miss Annersley, had taken matters into her own hands and organised a special tea for those children on the Platz that would be joining the Kindergarten. She had taken them all over the school, showing them the classrooms which had three or four tables with room for four children at each and a small carpet area where she told them they would sit and listen to stories. A cupboard in each classroom was revealed to hold toys – for boys and girls but the girls were especially thrilled when they were shown a room especially set out for playing and found that a big corner of it was set out just like a home. There were dollies they could pretend to feed, small beds that could be made and unmade and “all sorts of things jus’ like proper Mummies use!” Jean said excitedly to her mother. There were prams so the dollies could be taken for a walk but the dressing up cupboard put the finishing touch to the excitement of Felicity and Lucy for Kathie, having heard of their liking for ballet, had called on some friends who were especially good with needles, and some tutus had been produced with some old ballet shoes that had been procured from various people. Neither had she forgotten about the boys; there were building bricks aplenty and Felix looked forward to being able to build all sorts of houses and bridges. He was particularly impressed to find cars, a train track and trains just waiting to be set out and played with – there was even a train guard’s whistle and hat tucked away in the fancy dress cupboard and James Morrison unearthed a Pirate’s outfit. They could play football outside and there was a sand pit which the boys couldn’t wait to mess about with. There were books which they were all thrilled to learn they would learn to read and Jean and Louise Johnstone spent a long time looking at the bright colourful pictures, trying to puzzle out some of the big words underneath, until Anne, with a laugh, had taken pity on them and squatted down beside them to read it to them. There was also a painting area full of paints and paintbrushes provided by the main Chalet – Rosalind Yolland, Art mistress, having seized the opportunity to pass on a lot of paintbrushes, paint trays and paints that had seen better days. In short, the visit excited and thrilled their little souls to the brim and Felicity forgot her shyness and anxiety about school when she reached home and saw ‘Auntie Hilda’ talking to Mamma. She ignored her mother and went racing to her Aunt, throwing her arms round her neck. Hilda, not used to such exuberance from shy Felicity, was stunned for a moment but it was just a moment. She laughed and lifted the small girl onto her knee, listening with a smile as Felicity chattered happily about all they had seen. The idea of the visit had had nothing to do with her, although she had been in full approval and the happiness in the little face which had been so anxious recently, confirmed her in her belief that Kathie was right for the job. Joey watched her small daughter through eyes of relief and pride, not at all put out at the way she had gone to Hilda for she knew that Felicity associated the Head with her new school, however much she had tried to impress on her that it was Miss Robertson who would be her Head, and to see her go to Hilda so readily showed how happy she was with the idea. She turned her attention instead to Felix who uncharacteristically, snuggled up beside her, waiting until his twin, who refused to budge from the Head’s knee, cuddling up to her, had finished talking. He was pleased too and especially pleased that his twin was happy for he was secretly very protective over her – despite appearances to the contrary – and he hated it when she was anxious or unhappy. Felicity ran down eventually and he seized his chance before either adult could speak, telling them all about the things the boys would be doing. The Head, enjoying her cuddle with Felicity, listened with twinkling eyes, delighted at the obvious excitement of the pair and later, when she had returned to her work, was swift to pass on her congratulations to Kathie, feeling she couldn’t have done any better herself.

 

#4:  Author: catherine, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 1:05 pm

The evening before the girls were due back, a corner of the staffroom, as Miss Wilson had prophesied, rang with excited shrieks and peals of laughter as old friendships were renewed, much to the amusement of the rest of the staff who simply shook their heads good naturedly at them – until that was Miss Wilson decided to improve the occasion by bringing up the various past misdemeanours of the crew which had them shrieking in protest and hiding their heads in shame whilst the rest shouted with laughter. A good time was had by all but eventually the evening drew to a close and all retired to bed for the next day would be a busy one, although St. Nicholas would not start until the day after that. Most would be day pupils and of those that weren’t, there was only two children who did not live on the Platz and Joey had agreed to squeeze them in for one night so that they could all start together. Therefore, whilst Miss Annersley was welcoming the elder girls for the start of another term, she was welcoming Pierre de Bersac, Carlotta von Ahlen, the two Grahams, her nephews, Kevin and Kester Russell and IIonka von und zu Wertheim – the second youngest of the third of Joey’s closest friends. Marie had heard about the new move on the part of the School but she and her family had been away in America for six months so had heard the news later than everyone else. IIonka was readily accepted however and now arrived wildly excited and not just over the school. She had, as a baby, been betrothed to Kester Russell and was highly excited about being with him. Joey eyed the motley crew before her with something akin to despair, wondering what on earth had possessed her to say she would have them all. Jack joined her and gave vent to a deep chuckle as he correctly interpreted the expression on Joey’s face.
“You’ve done it now, Joey, my girl!” he chuckled. “There’ll be no peace for you now!”
“Don’t I know it!” Joey groaned. “What on earth was I thinking of, Jack? There’s Cecil to think about and Phil and Geoff are only a few months and there’s Ruey to worry over as well!”
“Keep calm! You’ll manage. Let’s get them washed and fed and packed to bed. The two Fs can see to washing their own hands and faces and Kevin and Kester may go with them. I’ll see to young Pierre and Christopher and Martin. Rosli can see to IIonka and Carlotta and you can trot off to Anna and help her sort out some kind of meal for them.” Thanks to Jack’s calm way of taking things, they soon had the crew sorted out and once they were fed, baths and bed were the order of the day. “It won’t be so bad tomorrow night, Joey,” Jack said comfortingly. “Madge has changed her mind and insisted on her pair being boarders, the two Grahams are as well and the rest will all have been fed. It will only be a case of baths and bed and you’ve only three extra. The babes will all be asleep by the time this lot are ready for baths and you and Rosli can quite well manage them.”
“I do feel rather bad over Kevin and Kester – I hope Madge wasn’t doing it on my account,” Joey said anxiously.
“From what Jem says, the pair are becoming a bit of handful and being slightly older than all but IIonka, there’d be a tendency to boss which Felix wouldn’t take kindly to, at any rate. They’ll do better at school with the other boys and a regular routine.” Joey had no choice but to agree with this and the talk drifted onto other topics.

 

#5:  Author: catherine, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 1:06 pm

The following morning, eighteen smart and excited small children lined up outside St. Nicholas, some clutching an overnight case, others with bags containing spare clothes, indoor shoes, hair brushes and washing materials and any favourite toys they wanted. They felt extremely important as Miss Robertson welcomed them all to their new school.
“Now, I know some of you have already been to see your new school; who thinks they might be able to remember the way round and show the rest?” Almost immediately, there were half a dozen hands in the air and she laughed. “Felicity, Felix, James and Alice,” she decided quickly. “Lead the way to the splasheries first – we have one for the boys and one for the girls. I want you to take you coats off and put them on your pegs, which all have your names on and change into your indoor shoes. Then you may go round the school, ending up in the dormitories where one of us will tell you what to do next,” she gave them a broad smile and then, with her colleagues, moved aside and just in time for there was a mad rush. Only little Louise Johnstone, the youngest of them all was left, standing where she was with tears pouring down her cheeks. Kathie went over to her.
“Louise,” she stooped down by child, her voice gentle, “don’t you want to go with the others?”
“Y-yes, oh yes!” she sobbed. “B-but I can’t read o-or do my clothes properly, not like Alice,” the little girl sobbed.
“Well you know, I don’t think you’ll be the only one,” Miss Robertson confided. “All the other mistresses have gone to help so if you come with me, I’ll help you find your peg and untie your laces. We’re going to teach all of you how to tie and untie your laces one day soon and then you’ll be able to manage all by yourself!”
“W-will I?” Louise looked hopeful.
“You certainly will! Let me take your case and then we’ll go and see what everyone else is doing,” she smiled at the little girl and taking her case in one hand, held out her other to Louise who grasped it eagerly and let herself be led inside. “Here we are! Next to Alice and Guita,” she smiled at little Margeurite Levasseur.
“Why is she crying?” Alice demanded of her Headmistress.
“She got left behind and she was worried she wouldn’t find her peg because she can’t read,” Miss Robertson explained.
“I said you were stupid!” Alice said impatiently to her little sister whose lips quivered again. Alice was almost six and she was looking forward to being at school with boys and girls of her own age and she didn’t want her little sister hanging on to her. Louise, who had only turned four a few days ago, was rather frightened by it all and not all sure she would like it. She needed her big sister but Alice had shown herself inclined to be dismissive and impatient with her.
“Not a good start to the term!” Kathie thought as she gave the little girl a reassuring cuddle. “Well, it might be too early to pitch in now but if Miss Alice continues like this, we’ll be having words!” she decided grimly. “I won’t have anyone being pushed aside for being little and not knowing as much, even if they are sisters!”
“Elle est pleurant?” Guita asked.
“Oui! Elle a peur, je pense!” Kathie responded in fluent French.
“Comment elle s’appele?”
“Guita wants to know what your name is, can you tell her?” Kathie released the small girl.
“L-Louise,” Louise sniffed, turning to look at Guita.
“Ne te pleure pas! Je vais t’aider!” Guita informed her but Louise simply stared blankly at her.
“Can you say it in English, Guita? Louise doesn’t understand French yet.”
“Yes!” Guita nodded. “Maman makes me speak English too. I understand him very well. Louise, you must not cry. I am going to help you.”
“Th-thank you,” Louise swallowed hard. It was fortunate that Guita had decided to help her since Alice had skipped merrily away with the two Susans, IIonka and Carlotta.
“Hurry up you two an’ come an’ see the school with me an’ Jean an’ Lucy,” Felicity struck in just then. “Come on an’ help them, you two!” This last was addressed to her two bosom chums who came dancing forward to help divest Guita and Louise of their outer garments. Kathie laughed and retired to the door to join Anne.
“Our first tears, then!” Anne grinned.
“Indeed! I’ll be talking to Miss Alice before long though! Whilst I don’t want Louise to cling to her sister, neither do I want her to be ignored completely or laughed at for being younger, even if they are sisters. It sets a dangerous precedent. Everybody else all right?”
“Fine,” Anne answered. “The boys were quite funny, they refused all offers of help and then got themselves tangled up, they were trying to be so independent! Christopher very politely asked if I could help them since they had got themselves into a muddle!” she laughed and Kathie joined in.

The scampering feet that could be heard all over the house eventually ended up in the boys dormitory and Kathie had to clap her hands for silence for the entire lot were chattering like magpies and in a mixture of English, French and German. Once she had got silence, she smiled at them and proceeded to explain what would happen next.
“You’re all up here because this is where you’re going to sleep. If you’re staying here, then you’ll sleep here at night and you’ll also sleep up here when you have a rest during the middle of the day – “
“Don’t we get a rest if we don’t stay then?” wondered Felix and Kathie smiled at him.
“Let me finish explaining Felix. Now! This room is for the boys that are staying here – that is Christopher Graham, Martin Graham, Kevin Russell and Kester Russell. There are also four more beds which is where you people who are only coming here during the day will sleep – so that’s you, Felix, Kenneth Morrison, James Morrison and Pierre de Bersac. Comprenez-vous?” she added to small Pierre.
“Oui Madame,” Pierre said shyly.
“Good! Well the four of you who are staying have had your trunks brought up here and when you’ve had your milk and biscuits a bit later, some of the very big girls are going to come and help you unpack.”
“Len an’ Con an’ Margot?” Felix asked hopefully, clutching his twin’s hand. They were both dying to show their triplet sisters around the house, the three having not yet had an opportunity to see it.
“An’ Ruey too?” Felicity asked shyly.
“No pets,” Miss Robertson smiled at the pair, anxious not to disappoint them. “Even bigger than Len, Con and Margot! Perhaps, if you wish very hard, your cousins may come. Josette and Maeve are very big girls now, aren’t they?”
“They’re Prefects!” Kevin said importantly.
“Josette is Head Girl,” Kester added impressively. “Ooh! Will they come, Miss Robertson?”
“I don’t know; we’ll have to wait and see.”
“Do the big girls have to unpack their clothes too?” Susan Holmes asked.
“They do,” Kathie nodded. “But they don’t have help like you do! They have to do it themselves!”
“I don’t want to be big,” Alice Johnstone sighed. “I like being small an’ getting cuddles an’ things.” It was quite the wrong thing to say for at this reminder, various lips started quivering and envisaging half an hour of howls, Kathie hurriedly distracted them.
“Well who’s going to come and see the girls’ dormitory?” she demanded. “You’ll have to be quick for there are some lovely toys downstairs just waiting for you to play with them!” Her distraction worked and the quivering lips vanished, to be replaced by a set of eager, excited children who followed her to the girls’ dormitory where they happily investigated and commented. Only little Louise who was finding all the rushing about and the amount of people rather overwhelming stayed by her side, slipping a shy, scared little hand into that of her young and pretty Headmistress. Kathie, feeling that here she had a child who would need a great deal of mothering and looking after before she settled down into the routine of School, stooped down to her. “Would you like to come and see where you’re going to sleep, Louise?” she asked gently.
“Want to sleep at home – with Mummy an’ Daddy,” Louise said, her lips quivering.
“You’ll see them very soon, darling,” Kathie said tenderly. “And wouldn’t you like to have lots to tell them when you do see them?”
“When?” Louise asked, looking hopeful.
“Well, if you try your best to be happy and try your best at everything we ask, I’ll ring them up and ask them when they might be able to come and see you and Alice,” Kathie told her. “You have to try though. They’d be very sad if they thought you were miserable you see and I don’t want to make them sad so I can’t ring them if you’re miserable, can I?” Louise shook her head.
“B-but there’s no one to give me cuddles anymore – like Alice said,” she added and not for the first time that morning, Kathie wished Alice had held her tongue. She said nothing however for in cases like this, actions speak louder than words and leading the small girl into the cubicle she would be sleeping in, she dropped the curtains so it was a proper little room, sat down in the chair and lifted the miserable, frightened little girl onto her knee, cuddling her whilst she pointed out all the different things in the cubicle; the chest of drawers where she could put all her clothes, the shelves where she could put her favourite toys, the bed where Teddy could have a sleep when he was tired and the chair where he could sit when he was not or where Louise’s visitors could sit. Kathie had discussed it thoroughly with Miss Annersley and it had been decided not to enforce quite a few of the rules that existed at the main Chalet. The little ones would not understand why they couldn’t visit each other in the dormitories or why they couldn’t talk in certain places or why they had to pay when they said certain wrong words or why they should curtsey to the Head. Kathie intended to keep the languages rule for they had children of all three nationalities and it would only be fair that the children should at least attempt to speak all three languages. It would be easier for them to learn the languages when they were little for they wouldn’t feel so silly for making mistakes and since they were so young, they would not be allowed in the classrooms without a mistress but Kathie meant for them to learn that they must walk in, stand still and be quiet and polite. She also meant to teach them to stand up when another mistress walked in. She meant to do what she could to enforce good behaviour too but instead of order marks, she intended to use stars. The children would each start off with three stars every week. They would lose a star for bad behaviour – and where necessary, the bad behaviour would be carefully explained to them so that they understood why it was wrong – but they could gain it for good behaviour, for being kind, always trying their best and working hard in lessons. At the end of every week, the three children with the most stars would get a sticker they could wear on their dress/shirt for the boys would wear shirt and trousers or shorts. Neither had Kathie forgotten how important it was for children of that age to be able to show off their stickers to their parents/family, so each child, even those who would go home to their parents at the end of every day, would be given a little sticker they could give to their parents or slip into their home letter, which a mistress would help them write. In many cases, it would not be more than a line, probably something along the lines of “I love you” or “I miss you” and the handwriting may be unintelligible but it would mean a lot to the recipients who had also been informed about the sticker system and would know what it meant if they found a sticker in their envelope. They had been asked to make a display of them at home so that their child could see that they were interested in what was happening. All parents, regardless of whether their children boarded or not, were encouraged to visit their children if at all possible, since it would mean a lot to them to be able to show their parents where they were living and what they were doing. Obviously, for some parents this would be hard or impossible, either because they were patients at the San or because they lived too far away but they were grateful for the thought that had gone into it and Kathie knew from previous experience, that other parents would be just as interested in the work of their children’s friends as in the work of their own – more particularly when the said children’s parents could not come themselves. Kathie had come up with many of these ideas during her interview and it was the thought she had put into it and her evident interest in her pupils’ happiness as well as their education that had convinced Hilda Annersley that she was right for the job. As she had said later to her co-Head, it was not her link with the School nor even her previous experience that counted but her vision of how the school would operate and the ways in which she intended to carry out her suggestions that counted. In future years, when they had more pupils of a wider variety of ages and had become a proper Junior School, not merely a Kindergarten, the rules of the main Chalet would be gradually introduced to allow the pupils to graduate from the Junior part into the main School with a full understanding of what would be required from them so far as behaviour and standard of work was concerned. All that however, had yet to come and Miss Robertson turned her attention back to the present, setting Louise, who was much happier for her cuddle, on the floor and leading her back into the aisle, ready to chase the rabble back downstairs for an hour’s play before milk and biscuits.

 

#6:  Author: catherine, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 1:07 pm

She was rather worried that Louise may show a tendency to cling to her, which wouldn’t help her to make friends with the others, but Felicity was not Joey Maynard’s girl for nothing. She seized Louise’s hand as they were going out the dormitory and ran downstairs with her, insisting on her playing with herself, Jean and Lucy who were quite happy to follow Felicity’s lead and accept Louise as a playmate.
“Thank goodness for that,” she sighed in an undertone to Anne; there were only four staff members at present, herself and Anne and two Kindergarten assistants, Marie Jennings and Christine Banks who were currently being besieged with questions from all sides and pleas for this toy or that toy. “I was afraid Louise was going to cling to me and that would be no good!”
“No,” Anne agreed thoughtfully. “You don’t want her to start to cling to you, certainly but at the same time, you don’t want to be pushing her away before she’s settled in a little bit and had the chance to get to know the others.”
“Exactly,” Kathie replied. “Louise will need to stand on her own two feet and she will, before many more days are up, if I have my way, but I don’t want to stop her from trusting me and letting me help her when she’s miserable. I don’t think she’ll be too much of a problem once she’s settled though, it’s mainly nerves and it rather looks as though Felicity is making a friend of her.”
“She’s nothing like Joey to look at, is she?” Anne remarked suddenly. “I remember her as a baby and even then she was fair.”
“Dr. Jack is fair though,” Kathie pointed out. “Well, they seem happy enough so I’ll leave them with you three for a few minutes; I’m off to see if I can pull some strings!”
“Oh?”
“I want to plead for Josette and Maeve’s help,” Kathie answered. “They can’t have the triplets but I don’t want their hopes of seeing those two dashed! At some point soon, I shall suggest a ‘family day’ where they can invite parents etc. to come and see the place – not for another week or two though. I want our boarders to settle properly and a routine established for them all – boarders or not. I won’t have the sudden contact with parents upsetting them if I can help it!” And so said, she slipped away to call Miss Annersley and plead her case. It was a somewhat lengthy phone call for of course that lady wanted to know how they were getting on, but Kathie had her way and she returned in time to help the children clear up, a wink and a grin at Anne telling that young lady that she had got her way.

The result of the phone call caused great excitement when it appeared and Josette and Maeve, who were leading the six prefects that had come to help, found four little people racing up to them and flinging themselves on them before they had even entered the Chalet. Amidst much laughter on the part of the elder two, and excited chatter from the smaller people, hugs and kisses were exchanged and then Josette and Maeve found themselves almost towed up the drive to where the other four – Barbara Chester, Clare Kennedy, Marie Zetterling and Aimee Robinet were awaiting them.
“Pleased with your welcome, you two?” Miss Robertson asked laughingly.
“Very pleased,” Josette answered promptly.
“Absolutely,” Maeve agreed. “We’re jolly pleased to be getting first skim of this place too!” she added and Miss Robertson laughed again.
“I should think the rest will be green with envy!” she agreed laughing. “Well, I know you two and I remember Clare but I don’t think I’ve met you three,” she turned to the remaining four prefects and Josette introduced Aimée and Marie and then turned back to Miss Robertson whose eyes came to rest curiously on Barbara’s face. “Have I met you before? You seem very familiar but I can’t place you,” she smiled.
“You knew her sisters and cousins,” Anne remarked, appearing at that point to be fell on with cries of delight by Josette, Maeve and Clare whilst Barbara, who knew her less well, gave her a grin. Anne laughed at the three but she returned their greetings warmly whilst her chief, also laughing, returned to the puzzle of Barbara’s identity.
“No! Don’t tell me!” she said as Barbara opened her mouth to solve it. “Let me see if I can work it out. I knew your sisters and cousins? How many do you have?”
“Three sisters but you only knew two of them and I think you knew all my cousins except the very littlest one. She was just a baby when you were in the Sixth.”
“Barbara Chester!” Kathie exclaimed, having thought back to the babies she knew of when she was in Sixth form. “Of course! You’re just like Nancy!” At this point, she suddenly woke up to the fact that her charges were milling round her and took matters in hands at once. “Well I think these six big girls will need some people to show them round!” she announced. “Jean and Lucy, would you like to go with Felix, Felicity and Maeve? And Kenneth and James, would you like to go with Kevin, Kester and Josette? Alice and Louise, would you like to go with Barbara, Guita and Pierre with Aimée, Carlotta and IIonka with Marie, Susan Holmes and Susan Dickie and Christopher and Martin with Clare? Girls,” she turned to the Prefects, “if you could steer them so that you end up in the dormitories, it would be helpful. We’ve split them into one for the boys and one for the girls so if I could have three of you in each?”
“Yes, Miss Robertson,” Josette agreed properly and taking the lead, turned to her brothers and the two Morrisons. “Come on then, you four! Show me all there is to see, please!”

The little ones thoroughly enjoyed themselves showing the big girls all around the School and were very pleased with themselves when they heard the six envy their toys and wish that they’d had such a variety to choose from as children. Eventually they ended up in the dormitories, where even the day boarders had something to do! All six prefects had younger siblings or cousins, in some cases both and on top of this fact, they had been responsible for their own packing and unpacking since their young days. With an eye to Matron’s future jurisdiction over some of them, at least, they had all agreed on the importance of teaching the little ones about unpacking and placing everything away neatly. The four staff, coming up to see how they were getting on, were extremely impressed by the scenes of industry that greeted them. Their charges were busy unfolding garments, putting them on hangers and handing them to the nearest prefect to hang up in the wardrobe or making neat piles of underwear and placing them neatly in drawers. The prefects were instructing and demonstrating but it was the little ones that were doing all the work and thoroughly enjoying it too. On reaching the dormitories, Josette, with a thought for squabbles, had wisely swapped with Barbara, knowing that her brothers would take instructions from someone who wasn’t their elder sister far better than they would from her. She had taken Felicity from Maeve, who considering that Felix was only a day boarder, had taken on Christopher Graham and Aimée had taken on Martin, with Pierre to help her and the two Morrison boys helped out everywhere they could in the boys dormitory. In the girls dormitory, Josette had Alice and Louise with Felicity to help, whilst Marie had taken on Susan Holmes with Carlotta and IIonka to help and Clare had Susan Dickie and Guita to help her whilst Jean and Lucy did the same as the two Morrison boys and helped out everywhere they could. Alice showed herself no more inclined to be kind to her little sister than she had so far but Josette had quickly sized her up and after Alice’s third scornful remark about Louise’s slowness, Josette decided to take the matter in hand.
“Alice, Louise is younger than you and you should be looking after her and helping her out,” she explained gently. “At the big Chalet, all the grown up girls always look after the little ones and help them if they need it. They don’t ever laugh at them for not knowing as much as they do or being able to do as much as they can for that’s very rude and very unkind. Mummy and Daddy want you to look after Louise because she’s smaller than you and doesn’t know as much as their big girl does but they’d be very unhappy if they knew you were being horrible to her because she couldn’t do as much as you. Will you try to be like a grown up girl and help Louise to make friends and learn how to do all the clever things that you can?”
Miss Robertson, standing within earshot, heard this and waited, hardly daring to breathe for Alice’s reply. She didn’t want to have to interfere at this early stage but if there was not a considerable improvement in Alice’s behaviour towards her sister, she would have to intervene so she hoped the small girl would listen to the Head Girl. Fortunately, Josette, with her eyes of periwinkle blue, was very pretty and the small girl was already attracted to her. Alice knew she was Head Girl and in conjunction with Louise, was beginning to fall in love with this tall, pretty girl who behaved so gently and kindly towards them and seemed to know and do such a lot. She was thrilled to hear Josette call her ‘a big girl’ and say that she knew lots and could do so clever things so she nodded eagerly.
“I’ll look after Lulu an’ help her!” she agreed.
“Good!” Josette smiled. “Mind you do though! Miss Robertson and Miss Webster will be watching you and so will all the others so you’ll have to make sure you do look after her. If you don’t, then nobody will be able to say you are next time I see you!”
“I’ll try to ‘member,” Alice promised and Kathie heaved a sigh of relief, before coming forward to help out where she could and congratulate them on all they had done.

 

#7:  Author: catherine, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 1:08 pm

Once the unpacking was done and the spare changes of clothes all the children had, had been hung up in a special cupboard in the cloakroom, there was only half an hour left before Mittagessen for the little ones and the Prefects had business of their own to attend to back at the main Chalet. They left and proceeded to make their peers green with envy by describing the layout of the new School whilst Miss Webster gathered the eighteen together and proceeded to read them a story. There were many moans and groans when she stopped and told them it was time to go and wash and use the bathroom before Mittagessen. The mistress remained firm however and since Miss Jennings and Miss Banks were waiting in the bathrooms to supervise them, there was no escaping, much to the annoyance of the boys who were not in the least bit interested in being clean and tidy.

After Mittagessen, cushions and rugs were provided and the children settled down to rest for an hour – within five minutes they were all asleep. The rest of the day was spent in play and the two assistants wondered at it.
“When do they start with their real work?” Marie Jennings asked, later that evening when their charges were all in bed and fast asleep.
“What do you mean by real work?” Kathie asked laughing.
“Writing and reading, I suppose,” Marie answered.
“Ah! Well neither of those will happen until they can recognise letters and numbers and form them themselves,” Kathie answered. “I don’t intend to start them on that until next week however; the rest of the week is devoted to play.”
“Why?” Christine queried. “Isn’t that just going to make them believe this is nothing more than a play school?”
“The reason I want them to play is because I want them to start to feel comfortable here, to experiment with different things and to get to know each other,” Kathie explained quietly. “This is a huge step for them all, especially our boarders and they need to get used to being here and to each other. Take Louise, for instance; she’s a very nervous, very shy four year old who is rather scared by the size of the buildings, the amount of people and not going home to Mummy and Daddy every day. If we tried to get her to start to work with her letters tomorrow, she’d be very confused and upset because she wouldn’t understand. First and foremost, she and the others, need to get to know each other properly; I don’t say they’ll make lasting friendships at this stage – they’re at the age where allegiance changes frequently. They need to get used to a different environment and start to strike out for themselves. Play isn’t just about having fun – they are trying out different things with a group of people they don’t really know and as they continue to play, they’ll try out different roles, be with different people and start to understand who they are – although of course, they won’t realise it yet. It gives them the opportunity to make mistakes, try out new things, have a go with a paintbrush – all sorts of things, in a relaxed environment. I do intend to start Music this week though – they can’t start to learn rhymes too soon and putting in the actions will help their co-ordination. By Monday, they’ll be much more settled and ready for the challenge of learning.”
“Are you going to have forms?” Marie asked curiously.
“No but what we will do is divide them into small groups as we see how well they grasp things. By taking small groups of four or so at a time, we can gear the teaching much more towards the different children and their needs.”
“The other thing you have to remember is that although we have five year olds and four year olds, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the older ones will learn faster,” Anne added. “If we had forms, we would have to either ability test them or set them by age. By having small groups, none of them will feel they ought to be with their own age group – they’ll only realise they’re with people who can’t do the same things as them and won’t be worried by it. It also means we’ll get to know the children much better ourselves.”

Over the next week, the children settled down into a routine and began to make friends amongst themselves. Alice strove to keep her promise to Josette; she found it easier during the day for Felicity, Lucy and Jean seemed to have adopted Louise as their fourth and would seize her eagerly on arrival. They were only day boarders and Alice found it hard to remember to make sure Louise was all right before she went off with the two Susans, with whom she had struck a tremendous friendship but fortunately Guita was generally around to keep Louise company. Louise herself seemed to be coming out of her shell a little bit, although she was still very nervous and needed plenty of reassuring cuddles. The boys all seemed to play together quite happily and it was noted that Kevin and Kester were proving themselves leaders and where there was mischief, it could be guaranteed that they would be at the bottom of it and the other boys, especially Felix.

 

#8:  Author: catherine, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 1:09 pm

On the Sunday afternoon, Joey Maynard invited the boarders to Freudesheim for tea and the group had an exciting time exploring all the nooks and crannies of Freudeshiem’s garden and meeting the Maynard triplets and Ruey, who had come over to help out. They returned to St. Nicholas in time to wash and tidy for Abendessen and after Prayers, they all went to bed.
“And there they’ll stay until tomorrow morning!” Kathie remarked as she settled into a chair in her sitting room and with Anne, prepared to entertain Gillian Culver, Peggy Burnett and Rosalind Yolland for the evening. The weather was still warm and the evenings still light so they were making the most of their opportunities for once the bad weather came, they would be confined to their respective buildings for the most part. Marie and Christine had been invited to join them but had chosen to go out for a stroll instead. Kathie had an idea that they had made friends with some of the young doctors from the Sanatorium.
“You’ve got a hope, haven’t you?” Peggy demanded now, referring to Kathie’s remark. “I grant you they should stay in bed but will they?”
“To hear you talk, anybody would think your respective pupils were always leaving their beds in the middle of the night!” Anne retorted and Peggy grinned.
“Well maybe not always but it does happen, rather too often for our liking!” she answered. “I’m just surprised that none of your little monsters have tried it yet!”
“Monsters?!” Kathie shrieked. “Monsters yourself, Peggy Burnett! My pupils aren’t monsters! They’re lovely and very well-behaved!”
“You’ve done it now,” Rosalind grinned at Peggy. “We’re going to have to spend the rest of the evening listening to these two extol the virtues of their little charges and having us believe they’re angels!”
“Well they can certainly try but I for one won’t believe any of it,” Gillian Culver observed lazily. “Here Kathie! Instead of getting all protective over your little lambs, find us some more chocolate biscuits and refill our cups! You’re a rotten bad hostess!” Kathie sighed and got to her feet, pulling a face at her chum, which would have made her charges squeal in horror. Gillian merely chuckled and sank further into her chair. “So how’s it going? Really, I mean?” she inquired.
“What are Kevin and Kester like?” Rosalind asked curiously.
“Imps, both of them!” Anne said with a chuckle. "You've no idea what we've put up with this week!"
“This sounds intriguing!” Gillian Culver sat up. “What have your little darlings been up to?”
“Nothing!” Kathie protested, firing up in defence of her ‘little darlings’. Anne chuckled and Peggy, Gillian and Rosalind looked disbelieving.
“You stop trying to pretend you’ve a set of little angels and pipe down!” Peggy ordered her. “Go on Anne, what exactly have they been doing?” Anne chuckled again and then as her listeners began to look impatient she condescended to tell them.
“It started on Monday when they were all having their milk and biscuits – or we thought they were having their milk and biscuits,” Anne paused to chuckle again. “The boys were sitting apart from the girls, they have been all week. Joey says they went into a huddle on Sunday afternoon and whenever anybody asked them what they were discussing, they were told it was ‘man stuff’ and women and girls wouldn’t understand! Dr. Jack heard them and wanted to know what ‘man stuff’ they were discussing but he was told he was too old to understand and they refused to say anymore!” she paused to allow her audience to laugh at the picture. “Anyway, I heard various comments from the girls table about how the milk looked strange and just as I thought I’d have a dekko, there were several shrieks! It would appear that those wicked boys removed the milk from the jugs and replaced it with a mix of chalk and water! Fortunately, nobody had more than a sip so nobody was bilious but it took some time to calm them! Chocolate biscuits and seeing the milk being poured into their glasses were the only things that would satisfy them! The only girl that didn’t suffer from it was Felicity – Felix, Kevin and Kester refused to allow any of the boys to do anything to her! She didn’t appreciate their protectiveness though – she was furious at being left out!”
“But how on earth did they manage to do it?” Rosalind demanded, as well as she could for her laughter.
“They asked to be excused at various intervals and since we allow them to go to the bathroom whenever they need to – we’d have an everlasting number of accidents if we didn’t! – nobody thought anything of it. Instead of going to the bathroom however, they sneaked out to the kitchen and achieved their aim!”
“It explained why Kenneth wet himself though,” Kathie put in, with a chuckle. “He decided he didn’t have time to go to the bathroom and play his part so the bathroom suffered, with the result that ten minutes after he’d returned, there was a puddle on the floor! At the time, he said he hadn’t thought he really needed it but he looked very ashamed of himself when I demanded to know if he’d skipped going to the bathroom to change the milk for chalk and water.”
“How did you punish them?” Gillian demanded.
“They’ve not been allowed to go anywhere on their own – all their movements are supervised until bedtime and they had to apologise to each of the girls in turn.”
“Well, what else have they done?” Rosalind demanded. “It’s quite obvious that that’s not all they’ve done!”
“Come on, Kathie! Give!” Gillian insisted and Kathie sighed.
“All right!” she caved in, laughing. “I know you’ll stop at nothing until you have the full story so I suppose I might as well let you have it!”
“Agreed,” Peggy answered, with a chuckle. “I can’t think why you were trying to hold it all back at first anyway! We all know that children are anything but angels! And anyway, you hear plenty of stories about our Middles! It’s more than fair we hear stories about the babies! Come on! What else have they been up to?”
“Well that little episode was naturally not ignored by the girls. Felicity was most annoyed because she felt the fact that she’d been left out of the boys trick meant that she had to be honourable and not join in the retaliation of the others. As you know, we have a sand pit and the girls contrived – how, I do not know, to fill various pairs of gym shoes with sand so that when the boys put them on ready for games, they all squalled! I made them empty the sand back into the sand pit and stood over the girls whilst they brushed up the mess that had been made in the Splashery. We did hope that they would decide they were all equal and call a halt at that but it was a vain hope!” Kathie chuckled tantalisingly.
“It certainly was! In fact, I’d say it’s all out war between them!” Anne giggled. “Felicity and Felix decided to start the next one – their twinship I think, resulted in them both coming up with the same idea and they both decided to carry it out at the same time! Felix approached Alice and offered her a mud cake – they had had mud cake on the Sunday so Alice thought it was left over from that and accepted. Felicity approached Kevin with the same offering and since neither Kevin nor Alice were any the wiser, they bit into it and we promptly had howls of disgust for they were mud cakes – literally! The evil pair each had formed a mound of sticky mud into the size of a small cake and calmly presented it to their chosen recipients! I think Alice was about to be sick but she caught Kevin’s eye and pulled herself together although it took some vigorous cleaning of teeth to get that taste away!”
“So I should think! Ugh!” Rosalind shuddered. “Well it certainly does sound like your imps have been imps!”
“Oh that wasn’t the end of it!” Anne assured her. “The next thing was a paint fight!”
“A paint fight?” Rosalind repeated, with a giggle.
“A paint fight,” Anne confirmed. “I was teaching them ‘Five little speckled frogs’ and some bright spark asked if they couldn’t make masks to wear whilst they were singing the rhyme. Well naturally, we leapt at the idea – it was a great one for helping them with their art as well as making the rhyme more real for them and thus helping with their counting skills. We said they could all make a mask each to save arguments when it came to performing – there’d have been cries of ‘you’re not using my mask’. Anyway, we split them into groups and everything was going well until Alice, as a way of getting back at Felix, decided to laugh at his attempt at a mask. He went over – ostensibly to examine hers, and whilst he was telling her that he thought it was rubbish and pointing out all the blobs of paint, he was in fact dabbing at her hair. Louise saw him and shrieked, wiping her paintbrush over him as she did and that was it! All out war between them!”
“I, I may say, was on the phone to the Head at the time and all I could hear were loud shrieks,” Kathie put in, laughing. “I stopped mid-sentence and fled to find out what was going on and walked in to find eighteen children covering themselves and Anne, Marie and Christine in green and brown paint! The kids were shrieking at each other and Anne, Marie and Christine were shouting at them to stop, trying to make themselves heard and trying to grab paintbrushes from them!”
“So what did you do?” Peggy Burnett asked, laughing.
“I switched the lights off,” Kathie answered calmly. “Fortunately it was raining so we did have the lights on or I don’t know what I would have done! I certainly wouldn’t have been able to make myself heard above the row that was going on! Anyway, there were various squalls and one or two of them tripped over each other and then I had silence. I said, quite calmly, ”Everybody is to put down their paintbrushes and put their hands down by their sides. I’m going to switch the lights on again in a moment and if I see anybody, other than Miss Webster, Miss Jennings and Miss Banks with a paintbrush in their hand, they will go to bed for the rest of the day.”
“And then, Felix, who had started the entire thing, had the cheek to say ‘what about us who don’t stay?’ Kathie, naturally responded that that included them and there was an ‘ooh!’ followed by silence,” Anne chuckled.
“I switched on the lights again and not a single one of them had a paintbrush in their hand. They all turned to look at me and I looked back at them and said absolutely nothing. Two minutes later, most of them were weeping like waterspouts. Kevin, Kester and Felix were trying to look as though they didn’t care and didn’t think they’d done anything wrong but they were the only ones! Marie and Christine went to the Splasheries and we sent them one by one to clean up and then they came and sat down on the carpet, still not talking. I waited until they were all sitting down and then told them that the masks they had been trying to make would all go in the bin since they were ruined and then I told them that in future, they would not paint together again. They would be split into small groups and if there was anymore bad behaviour with paints, they would not be allowed to paint again at all! I did try to suggest that they stopped playing tricks on one another but they took no notice of me!”
“What on earth do you mean?” Gillian demanded. “Surely there isn’t more to come?”

 

#9:  Author: catherine, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 1:10 pm

“Unfortunately, there is!” Anne said with a rueful chuckle. “I told you it was all out war between the little darlings!”
“Felix blamed Louise for squealing and none of the boys would speak to her which made Alice furious since Louise was only trying to help her. Felicity spent her time in tears, not sure whether she should be begging her twin to speak to Louise or backing him up and upsetting her friend. Louise put an end to it however – she marched up to Felix and dropped a worm down his back! He yelled naturally and the girls all laughed at him for being a baby which made the boys furious and for the next day, we had to contend with various squeals as insects were dropped down backs or into laps and scorn as people laughed at others for making such a fuss! The climax of that particular episode came when Kester dropped a spider in Louise’s food. She was inconsolable for Kester said she deserved it because she’d started the entire thing by telling on Felix when he started painting Alice’s hair and Alice was furious with Kester for upsetting her. Kester retorted that she’d upset Louise plenty of times before and she screamed back at him that it was allowed because they were sisters! Nothing any of us could say or do would console Louise and she ended up in bed for the rest of the day. I saw no reason why she should be the only one to lose out on a an afternoon’s play and promptly ordered the rest of them to bed too. They spent the rest of the afternoon on their beds, with nothing to do and nobody to speak to for I forbade any talking and Marie and Christine sat in each room, keeping an eye on them. I had hoped that they would all try to be friends the next day but it was a vain hope! Poor little Louise got even more stick and whilst the rest were at Mittagessen, I found Louise and Felicity in the garden, digging. I asked them what they were doing and they informed me that they were digging deep holes as that way they could reach Australia and then they would never have to be here again. I explained that they wouldn’t reach Australia that way and once I’d managed to stop their tears, I took them both inside and told the entire lot that we’d had quite enough of their behaviour! I –.“ Kathie came to a sudden stop at this point for loud screams could be heard coming from upstairs. She leapt to her feet and headed the rush upstairs to the dormitories, almost panic stricken at the thought of what awful Fate might have befallen her small lambs.

The five mistresses reached the top of the stairs to be greeted with five howling, white faced girls, all sobbing and screaming at the tops of their voices. Matron Kelly was surrounded by them and was doing her best to get to the bottom of it, with little success. She looked up with relief at the sight of the five mistresses and Kathie stepped forward to take charge. Almost instantly, she was besieged by five small girls all wanting some kind of reassurance and comfort and seeing nothing for it, she picked up Louise and held out her hand to Alice, leading the way back to the dormitory. The other three were taken charge of and once they were all back in the dormitory, their screams having died away, Kathie set to work to find out what the cause of it all was.
“Monsters!” Alice sobbed.
“Monsters? What kind of Monsters?” Anne demanded.
“Small ones. They were all white and had big eyes and horrible faces!” Susan Holmes sobbed.
“They made growling noises too! They came and touched us when we were asleep and woke us all and it was horrible!” Susan Dickie clung to Rosalind Yolland, who had taken charge of her.
“Are you sure you weren’t dreaming?” Anne suggested.
“B-but we all saw them!” Alice sobbed.
“Perhaps you all had the same dream?” Gillian Culver suggested.
“Or has somebody been telling you a scary story?” Peggy Burnett suggested, with a memory of various people having nightmares caused through being told scary tales just before bed or indeed, in bed.
“The boys haven’t been telling you any scary stories have they?” Matron Kelly demanded but the five assured her they had heard no scary tales and it looked rather as though the adults would be at a loss to explain things. Kathie however had been looking thoughtful and she suddenly rose to her feet, passing Louise and Alice into the care of Matron. There were more howls and pleas for her not to go as she reached the door.
“Don’t be silly,” she chided them gently. “You have all these people to look after you and I’ll back in a moment. I’m only going to find out if the boys are all right, I expect you’ve woken them with your screams.”

 

#10:  Author: catherine, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 1:11 pm

To explain what had happened, it is necessary to go back a few days – or perhaps even to the summer holidays. Felix, Kevin and Kester’s cousins, Rix, Jackie and Maurice Bettany had stayed with the Russells during the holidays and when they had discovered that Kevin and Kester would be starting at St. Nicholas, they, along with David, the twins’ brother, had implanted various ideas in their minds. Most had been forgotten, although has been seen, the idea of playing tricks on the girls had not. Various tricks had been suggested, some of which had happened, but the idea of showing that the girls were nothing but ‘sissies’ had not. They had therefore decided to scare the girls just after they had gone to bed one evening. The plan had been discussed earnestly over the past few days and the four day boarders had begged to be allowed to stay over tonight. Kathie had wondered at it at the time but there appeared to be no harm in the pleas so she had agreed – although she was presently regretting it.

She opened the door to the boys dormitory, pausing to hide the sudden grin that appeared on her face at the sound of feet scuttling back to their beds and then she walked in and shut the door. The boys had been unable to decide whether to pretend to be asleep if she should walk in or whether to pretend to have been woken by the screams or sobs or whatever noise the girls made. They were still unsure and silence greeted Kathie as she leant against the door, the boys were all waiting for one of them to take the lead.
“Well boys, don’t you want to know what’s wrong with the girls?” she inquired.
“They sound like they’re frightened,” Kester observed, trying to sound detached.
“They are frightened,” Kathie replied. “Do you know why they’re frightened?”
“They’re girls,” Kevin answered.
“Girls are always frightened of things,” James Morrison added, in a manly way.
“I happen to know that girls are not always frightened of things,” Kathie informed him. “However, I am not here to find out what you think or do not think about girls. I am here to find out exactly what you did to frighten them!”
“We didn’t do nothing,” Martin Graham protested.
“We didn’t do anything!” Kathie corrected firmly. “I’m afraid boys that I don’t believe you. You see, you’ve been playing all sorts of nasty tricks on each other all week and something has frightened the girls.” The boys maintained their innocence however and one or two of the younger ones began to sound upset so even though she did not believe them, Kathie desisted from pursuing it, having no wish for more tears at this time. “Very well. Lie down all of you and I shall come and tuck you in. I’m sorry for not believing you, I’m afraid I didn’t believe in the existence of monsters until now. You see,” she continued meditatively, “if it was not you, as you say it wasn’t, then we obviously have some monsters living in this house. It was monsters that frightened the girls and that worries me for it was the girls tonight, it will quite likely be all of you tomorrow. And then, of course, I can’t possibly hope to feed them and you, which is another problem. If I don’t feed them, then they will quite likely be hungry at night which means they will quite likely choose to feed on little boys! I really had no idea there was such a thing as monsters but now I know, I shall have to think carefully about what best to do. I suppose it would be best not to feed you all since I can’t expect your parents to understand that the fact you might be in a monster’s tummy means you can’t go home for Christmas.”
“I don’t want to be in a monster’s tummy!” came a quavering voice from Christopher Graham’s cubicle.
“I want to go home,” Kenneth Morrison began to cry, setting Christopher off and Kathie smiled to herself.
“Stop crying, you two. I didn’t say we definitely had monsters, I simply don’t understand why the girls thought we did have monsters if it wasn’t you and if there aren’t any such things as monsters! You can’t help me though so you’d better lie down and go to sleep.” She had moved into Kevin’s cubicle as she was speaking and as she began to tuck him in, she realised the undersheet on his bed was not covering the mattress properly. She promptly flung back the covers and ordered him out of bed, intending to remake it. Instead, she gave an exclamation and whipped the sheet off the bed, taking it out into the aisle where she examined it properly under the electric light. She said nothing but leaving Kevin quaking in his cubicle, she proceeded to enter all the other cubicles and found the same thing in each. Eventually, she had all the sheets off the beds and had examined every one of them. “Out here now!” she commanded, sounding very angry and eight scared little boys appeared before her. “I am going to ask you one more time and this time, I want the truth! What exactly did you do to scare the girls? And why?”
“W-we put sheets over our heads and ran into their dormitory,” Kevin confessed.
“We went into their cubicles and made scary noises and shook them till they woke up and saw us,” Kester added.
“They started screaming and crying and we ran back here before you could catch us,” James Morrison added.
“I see. Now perhaps you’d tell me why your sheets are like this!” she held up a sheet which had two holes in it and a mouth, nose and hair drawn on it in felt tip pen.
“We needed to see where we were going so we cut holes in for our eyes and then drew faces on to make ourselves look scary,” Kester muttered.
“W-what are you going to do to us?” Martin Graham asked nervously.
“That, I haven’t decided yet,” Kathie answered. “For now, you are going to put these sheets back on and show the girls exactly what it was that scared them!”

 

#11:  Author: Lesley, Location: Allhallows, Kent PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 3:23 pm

Hope you've got a new bit when you finish re-posting this, Catherine? Laughing

 

#12:  Author: catherine, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:32 pm

Did you really think I would dare to repost if I didn't have new bits, Lesley?!!! Wink

The boys were too much in awe of her to do anything but obey them and as she led them into the girls’ dormitory, there were yet more screams – they died away very quickly however, for with the electric lights shining brightly, it was possible to see that the scary monsters were no more than the boys with sheets over their heads. The five adults that had stayed with the girls had to hastily muffle their giggles at the sight before them. A moment later, however, the girls, righteously angry at having been deliberately frightened, charged at the boys and the staff spent the next few minutes having to forcibly separate them.
“We hate you, we hate you, we hate you!” Susan Holmes screamed at the boys.
“Yeah well we hate you too!” Kester retorted not to be outdone. “You’re only stupid girls who cry cos they believe there are monsters! We’re big strong boys and we don’t need anybody to look after us!”
“Quite right, Kester, you don’t!” Kathie decided it was time to reassert her authority. “You silly, naughty little boys will go back to your dormitory and since you don’t need anybody to look after you, you will put the sheets back on your bed and remake your bed before you get back into it. We mistresses will be along to check in a few minutes time and if we don’t like what we see, we shall make you redo your bed. And any boy who gets into bed before we say he may, will spend the rest of the night standing up. You are not to talk to each other and anybody I hear making any noise will spend the night standing up in a corner of my room! Do you understand?”
“Y-you mean we might have to sleep standing up?” Martin Graham asked nervously.
“Yes, Martin, I do.” The gasps that greeted this almost made her smile but she controlled herself, merely opening the door and fixing the boys with a cold stare. They crept out and the staff turned their attention to setting the girls back into bed – something which was easier said than done.
“Moi, je suis trčs fachée!” Guita announced. “Those boys they make me verrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeee angry!”
“And me,” Susan Dickie agreed.
“Me too!” Susan Holmes added. “I will never get to sleep because I am so angry with those stupid boys.”
“I think we should go and smack their bottoms,” Alice announced and Gillian Culver beat a hasty retreat at this, unable to contain her laughter.
“Let us go now!” Guita decided. “We will punish them and then they will be sorry!”
“You’ll do no such thing!” Kathie said sharply at this juncture. “I’m going to count to ten and I want to see you all in bed! Any girl who isn’t, will have the same punishment as the boys and sleep standing up! One!” she began to count and the little girls scuttled back to their beds, little Louise hiding under her covers and crying quietly still for she hadn’t really understood what had happened. Kathie heard her sobs and whilst the rest of the mistresses tucked the rest in with firm orders to stay in bed and go to sleep, she went into Louise.
“Up you come!” she said lightly as she drew back the covers and lifted the small girl into a sitting position. “Not still scared are you?”
“I don’t want you to go,” Louise sobbed. “What if the monsters come back?”
“Monsters? What monsters?” Kathie demanded quickly. “The only monsters in this School are those silly little boys and you’re not scared of them surely?”
“B-but how are they monsters? I don’t understand,” Louise wept.
“Oh the silly little boys tried to scare you by putting their sheets over their heads and making scary noises until you were all awake,” Kathie said lightly. “There aren’t monsters really – they just wanted you to think there were. Come now! No tears or they’ll be pleased with themselves for frightening you and we can’t have that!”
“B-but I don’t like it when they’re horrible.”
“It’s OK, Lulu!” Alice said, coming to her sister. “I won’t ever let them be horrible to you! And they’ve gone now! You have to lie down an’ go to sleep now and I’m going to get into bed too!” Before Kathie had fully grasped what the little girl meant, she had climbed into bed beside her sister and wrapped her arms around her. Kathie opened her mouth to tell her she must sleep in her own bed and then thought better of it.
“If it stops Louise from spending the next hour clinging to one or other of us, it’s all to the good, I suppose,” she thought with an inward sigh, as she tucked them in more closely. She left them and moved onto the rest, all of whom were lying down and almost asleep. “Goodnight,” she said softly. “No more talking and I don’t want to see any of you out of bed, unless it’s to go to the bathroom, before the morning!” She closed the door quietly behind them and then, following the sound of muffled laughter, she opened the door of a nearby room and shutting it, stood glaring at her colleagues who were all doubled up with laughter.

 

#13:  Author: catherine, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:36 pm

I have a feeling there is a post missing at this point - which I wrote straight onto the board and never got round to saving onto my word doc. If anyone, by any miraculous chance, has it, could they let me know?!

The boys meanwhile were feeling ready to fight with a feather for their small arms were not much use when it came to managing big sheets – quite apart from the fact that none of them had the least idea on how to make a bed. The silence in the dormitory made things worse for none of them dared to speak. They knew Miss Robertson was angry with them and their little souls were appalled by the thought of having to sleep standing up – if it was possible. It had been good to scare the girls but more than one of them rather wished that they had found another way to do it – one that hadn’t meant this! By the time Miss Robertson appeared, having given her friends her unvarnished opinion of them, almost all of them were in tears and not one of them had managed to do more than put their sheet on their bed. Felix, Martin and Pierre, the youngest of them, had not even managed to do that and Felix was curled up in a corner of his cubicle, hugging the sheet to him and sobbing his heart out. Quite apart from anything else, he had spent very few nights away from home and he was missing Mamma and Anna badly. Kathie softened as she saw the miserable faces looking up at her as she walked in and her tone was kinder than it had been when she spoke to them.
“If you need help with your sheets, I will help you but I want you all to understand that you have all made me very cross. You are all very naughty, unpleasant little boys and at the moment, I am very sorry that I have to have you as part of this School,” she stopped there for at her words, every single one of them had begun to howl. She waited a moment or two and then spoke again. “I am glad you are upset because that tells me that you are sorry for what you did and I hope that, once you have all had a sleep, you will show everybody how sorry you are by being good and kind. I am not going to say anymore now,” she added as the door opened and her friends joined her. “But I will see you all tomorrow and we will talk about it then. Now, if you will try to stop crying, we will come and help you make your beds and then you must go to sleep.” She went to Felix first, it being very clear that he was the worst affected by all this and because she felt rather sorry for him. She knew quite well that both Kevin and Kester were the most mischievous of them all and Felix, being their younger cousin, was dragged into the mischief, whether he liked it or not. He was expected to join in and if he didn’t, he would be labelled a ‘sissy’ and have his cousins laugh at him. “Come, Felix, stop crying now,” she said kindly as she walked in. “I’ll help you make your bed and then you can have a nice sleep,” she took his sheet from him, swiftly remade the bed and then, seeing there was no improvement, picked him up and gave him a cuddle. Eventually, she managed to soothe him and she tucked him up in bed before going on to check on the rest – some of whom had required the same treatment as Felix and received it from the other mistresses.
The following day saw repercussions all round for the children who had slept at St. Nicholas were bad tempered and tired as a result of lack of sleep and Felicity, IIonka, Carlotta, Lucy and Jean were furious at being out of the fun and equally furious that the boys had upset their friends. Felicity and Felix had their first proper argument which reduced Felicity to tears and led Felix to storm off in a huff.
“I don’t know what’s worse, having them play silly tricks on each other or this!” Anne groaned to Kathie.
“All ‘this’ is a result of not enough sleep and people feeling left out,” Kathie answered lightly. “Felix and Felicity will sort themselves out and a nap this afternoon will sort most of them out.”
“I’m just thankful I don’t have to explain their sheets to Matron,” Matron Allen observed just then – she was as much in awe of Matey as the two mistresses, who, both being Old Girls, chuckled.
“Ye-es, I don’t think I’d want to do that myself,” Anne admitted. “I’m glad we have our own supplies of sheets. Goodness knows what she’ll say when she does find out.”
“Oh she’ll see the funny side,” a fresh voice remarked from the doorway and the little ensemble jumped, turning to see Miss Annersley standing there, watching them with twinkling eyes.
“M-Miss Annersley!” Anne stuttered whilst Kathie hastily jumped to her feet and retreated to another chair and Matron Allen, hearing another wail rent the air, jumped to her feet and went to see to it, relieved to be out of the situation. She had met and liked both Miss Annersley and Miss Wilson but she held them both in a great deal of awe. Hilda Annersley surveyed her ex-pupils, laughing.
“My dear girls! Must you make me feel that I’m a monster who must be feared at all times and on all occasions?” she protested, laughing. “I know I was your Headmistress, but I’m that no longer. I’m merely an experienced colleague – and I hope friend – to whom you can come for advice if you need it or simply for a friendly chat. I am Senior to you both, I admit but I have no desire or intention to pull rank! And you all know my name is Hilda!” she ended severely.
“Sorry,” Kathie Robertson pulled herself together. “I’m afraid it’s habit.”
“I realise that,” Hilda smiled at her. “All the same, it’s time you broke it. I hope that we will be colleagues for longer than just this term – indeed I positively expect it! But it won’t work if the two of you jump out your skins like naughty pupils every time you see me! Apart from anything else, as you both know, little children are very perceptive and I have no wish to see them playing us off against each other because they realise you are wary around me.”
“And now I do feel like a naughty pupil,” Anne murmured and Hilda chuckled.
“That was not my intention, I assure you! I simply wish you to relax around me – I have no desire to see you on your best behaviour all the time, you know! I know you’re both human beings – and equally, I know you can both be full of mischief!” she twinkled at them and the resultant laughter broke the tension. “I came to see how you were all faring after last night’s little escapade!” she added, taking a seat.
“I might have known Peggy and Rosalind wouldn’t hold their tongues!” Kathie groaned. “I’ll wring their necks next time I see them!”
“You and me both!” Anne declared as their ex-Headmistress pealed with laughter. “How many people have they told?” she added and Hilda chuckled.
“I have no idea, I’m afraid,” she laughed. “I encountered them last night as they were returning and their ‘cat got the cream’ expressions caused me to make instant inquiries! I take it there were no further alarums?”
“No,” Kathie sighed thankfully. “We just have constant tantrums to put up with now – that and yet more fighting. Why they’re all so determined to play ridiculous tricks on each other, is more than I can tell you!”
“Oh it’s a struggle for the upper hand,” Hilda said easily, sipping the coffee Anne had brought her. “Once they realise that nobody is going to be allowed to order the others about, they’ll settle down.”
“I’m not so sure,” Anne said sceptically. “At least, I suppose they might if various older brothers and cousins butt out.”
“Ah! I assume Kevin, Kester, Felicity and Felix are at the bottom of all this then?”
“Kevin and Kester, certainly,” Anne said thoughtfully. “Felicity has nothing to do with it – or no more than the rest do. I feel rather sorry for Felix though – he seems to be caught between what he considers to be two evils. Either he goes along with what Kevin and Kester want or he stays out of it and ends up being left out of things and laughed at for being a wimp.”
“Actually, I feel sorry for Kevin and Kester as well,” Kathie remarked. “I think there’s probably been a great deal of advice from David, Rix and the others on how to behave at School and I suspect all they’re trying to do is live up to their expectations and probably feeling slightly bewildered by all the trouble they’re getting into and causing. I imagine the consequences of behaving badly and playing silly tricks were not imparted to the pair! I also suspect there’s a little bit of self importance there – being Madame’s sons. Considering they’ve only been out here once or twice and that the vast majority of people out here are strangers – they haven’t spent a lot of time with even the Maynards, have they?” she glanced at her ex-Head.
“No,” Hilda shook her head. “Parts of occasional holidays but that’s all. I’ve only met them myself on three or four occasions.”
“Well considering all of that, and the fact that they are actually living in School and not with their Uncle and Aunt and cousins, they seem to be adjusting far better than I would have expected. I may be being unfair but I feel that because they are the oldest here and Madame’s sons, they feel that they are more important than the rest and have the right to ‘persuade’ the rest in one direction or another.”
“Sybil went through the same thing, didn’t she?” Anne commented but Kathie shook her head.
“No. Sybil put on airs and behaved badly thinking she’d get away with it because she was Madame’s daughter and therefore nobody would dare to scold her for fear of upsetting her mother. Kevin and Kester aren’t putting on airs, it’s simply that being who they are is giving them a feeling of importance and making them rather more forceful with the rest than they might otherwise have been.”
“What are you going to do about it?” Hilda inquired.
“I think the time has come to split them,” Kathie answered. “I had hoped that we could have half a term with them as one class but there has been too many fights and tears. If we split them, then we can challenge the older ones a little more and the younger ones will have more chance to find their feet and confidence. And I think I might just know how to settle Kevin and Kester.”

 

#14:  Author: catherine, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:37 pm

Her listeners were not destined to find out just how she intended to settle Kevin and Kester just then for as she finished speaking, the door opened and Matron reappeared, a sobbing Felicity clutching at her hand.
“What now?” Kathie asked resignedly.
“More of the same,” Matron responded, in the same resigned tone. “The rest are just as bad. If they can fight, they are fighting and Marie and Christine are having their work cut out just to stop them hurting each other. They’d all be best off in bed – I promised I go back and help once I’d delivered Felicity to you.”
“F-Felix hates me, Auntie Hilda,” Felicity sobbed pitifully, on seeing her brevet aunt.
“Of course he doesn’t hate you!” Auntie Hilda said quickly, leaning forward and taking Felicity from Matron. “Felix is just very cross at the moment because he’s tired.”
“B-but why is he cross with me?” Felicity sobbed. “I didn’t do anything to him.”
“Oh he’s not really cross with you,” Anne stepped in quickly. “He’s just in a bad mood and he wants to be cross with someone so he’s chosen you because he knows that when he’s not tired anymore and is sorry for what he’s done, you’ll still be his friend. Some of the others might not want to be his friend anymore if he got very cross with them but you’re his twin and he knows you’ll always be his friend.”
“Just like Len, Con and Margot when they get cross with each other,” Miss Annersley added, cuddling Felicity. “You’ve seen them get cross with each other lots of times, I’m sure, but they’re always friends again afterwards.”
“I d-don’t like it when he’s cross with me,” Felicity sobbed.
“Well the best thing you can do when he starts being cross is to walk away and leave him alone to be cross by himself,” Kathie told her.
“L-like we do Margot and Mike?”
“Just like you do with them,” Auntie Hilda answered firmly. “I think perhaps that the more upset you get when Felix is cross, the more cross he will get. Leave him alone and he’ll get very bored of being cross by himself and once he stops being cross, he’ll want to play with you again. Now, I think Miss Robertson and Miss Webster want to go and find out what the others are doing, so will you stay here and keep me company?”
“Perhaps you could tell Miss Annersley all about your new School?” Kathie suggested as Felicity, still inclined to shyness when she was on her own with her brevet aunt, looked doubtful. “I’m sure Len, Con and Margot have been asking her all sorts of questions about it but I don’t think Miss Annersley will have been able to answer them! I think you can though so could you be a big, brave girl and talk to Miss Annersley for me? She might get very bored if you don’t.”
“I hope you will,” Auntie Hilda added quickly. “I’m longing to know what you all do here! I’m sure it’s much more interesting than the work the big girls do!”

The younger mistresses made good their escape whilst Felicity, at first shyly and then more confidently, chattered about her new School. They made their way to the big classroom that opened out onto the grounds, from whence the sounds of wails, angry shouts and sobs were emerging. Anne plunged into the fray at once but Kathie, as befitted a Headmistress, stood still, surveying the scene before her in silence and a great deal of displeasure. It was tinged with a little amusement however for Alice and Guita, true to their proclamations of the night before, were solemnly making the rounds smacking each of the boys’ bottoms in turn – and stopping them in the tracks of whatever argument or fight they were having. Despite that, however, she couldn’t be seen to condone such an action and stepped forward to put an end to it.
“Silence!” Kathie envied her ex-Headmistress her quiet yet powerful voice as she herself had to raise her voice to a shout to make herself heard. There was more fury in her tones than her pupils had ever heard before and they came to an awed stand still, causing their angry Headmistress to bite her lips to stop herself from laughing out loud at their awed expressions. “I did think,” Kathie spoke quietly but still furiously once she had achieved silence, “that I was Headmistress of a School for big girls and boys of four, five and six. I did not think I was Headmistress of a School for babies!” Her tones changed from furious to scathing and the expressions of her pupils changed from awed to indignant.
“We aren’t babies!” Kevin refuted indignantly.
“No,” Kathie agreed. “You are not babies but you are acting like babies! You boys were very naughty last night and I am still very cross with you over it but instead of trying to please me by behaving nicely, you are fighting with each other and upsetting each other. As for you girls, you were very silly to get so upset last night and cause such a fuss over a few silly little boys behaving very badly but instead of showing me how grown up you really are, you are doing nasty things such as smacking the boys, calling them names, pushing them away and refusing to play with them,” she paused a moment as they began to look ashamed. “I am very annoyed with you all and I do not like the way any of you are behaving at the moment so none of you are to speak to each other for the rest of the day. You are all going to tidy up the mess you have made and then you are going to have an early lunch. After that, you are all going to go to your beds where you will spend the rest of the day. You may speak to an adult if you really need to but I do not wish to hear or see you talking to each other.”
“What happens if we do?” Kester asked daringly and Kathie glared at him for a full minute, during which time he went from a healthy pink to an embarrassed purple to a scared white.
“You will do exactly as I say, Kester,” Kathie spoke with deadly intent. “If you do not, then you will spend the rest of the day standing still. You will not be able to move at all and you will have nothing to look at except a wall and nothing to eat or drink except bread and water. Is that what you wish to happen?”
“No,” Kester shook his head, looking appalled.
“Pardon?” Kathie glared at him.
“No Miss Robertson,” Kester murmured in subdued tones.
“That’s better!” Kathie said severely. “Now! The boys will tidy up out here with Matron and Miss Banks watching you. Miss Webster and Miss Jennings, perhaps you would make sure the girls tidy up the classroom? Thank you,” she smiled at her colleagues and then turned on her heel and departed to send Felicity to join the rest and to consult the Kitchen about providing an early lunch before returning to her study and bidding goodbye to Miss Annersley who had to return to her own job. The Head of the Chalet School Proper couldn’t resist a peep at the youngest members of the School however and she chuckled softly on seeing them going about their business in a subdued and silent manner, some of the nervier ones looking almost scared out of their wits.
“Well whatever you said to them it’s certainly had the right impression!” she remarked sotto voce to her junior. “I shall leave them in your capable hands however and depart before my presence is spotted and causes them to forget themselves! Good Luck!” She flashed a smile at Kathie as she turned to leave, having convinced her with those few words that she had no doubts over Kathie’s suitability or capability as Headmistress.

 

#15:  Author: catherine, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:37 pm

Whilst her charges were either lying quietly and reflecting on their bad tempers or sleeping them off, Kathie took the chance to catch up with correspondence. There was not a lot of it as yet, since the School was still in its early stages and she dealt with it rapidly. She was glancing through some text books with a thoughtful expression on her face when a tap at the door heralded the entrance of Anne, Marie and Christine. Matron had plenty of work of her own to be getting on with and would keep an ear out for the sleepers.
“All quiet on the western front?” Kathie asked, with a laugh as they entered.
“For the moment!” Anne responded, laughing too. “We thought we’d come and find out what you meant by splitting them?”
“Ah!” Kathie put her book down and sat up straight in her chair, indicating for the others to find seats. “Right! When we first started, I hoped it would be possible to keep them altogether for at least half a term, to encourage firendships to grow and for them to get their confidence with us and with each other. I also thought it would give us plenty of time to assess each child’s level of work and I’d expected to spend the first part of half term arranging ability groups for them. Recent events, however, have shown me that that is no longer possible. I believe that one of the causes of this trouble is boredom.”
“Bored? But they’re occupied all day!” Marie protested.
“Ye-es but that doesn’t mean that the tasks they’re set are stimulating them properly,” Kathie replied slowly. “If you think it over, you’ll see that even now we can see a difference between the abilities of say, Louise, compared to Kester. Louise can write her name, with prompting, and can count accurately to five. Beyond that she gets confused. Kester, on the other hand, is able to count accurately to fifteen and occasionally manages up to twenty. He is able to write his name without prompting and to form some of his letters neatly and accurately. He’s unable to get beyond that, at the moment, however for they are not split by ability and therefore, whichever of us is taking the table he is working on, is having to spend time prompting the lower ability children. He becomes frustrated and is taking that out in mischief. He and Kevin are natural leaders and the rest are following them. Alice is another example – she’s sticking faithfully by Louise and is getting frustrated by it. If we were a bigger school, then the older children would be in a different class. We have more than one room and at the moment, they are kitted out for both play and lessons. I suggest we make use of four classrooms – two for reading, writing and counting. Another for ‘structured play’ – i.e. toys/objects that can be set up to reinforce what they have been taught – and another for ‘free play’ – somewhere they are free to choose the toys they want and play with them without anymore than the necessary input from any of us. If we do it that way, I hope it will help them to work better – they will know why they are in each classroom. At the moment, they could be doing any one of those three things in the classroom and it’s distracting for them if some are playing in the same room whilst others are working.”
“What sort of structured play tasks would you do?” Christine asked curiously.
“Well, counting is not just about reciting, it’s about counting out objects, recognising that ten is more than one, etc. So, you might set up a table with buttons and ask them to count out ten buttons,” Kathie suggested.
“Or, if you were doing heavy and light, you might set up a table with different objects and ask them to hold them and decide which is heavy and which is light,” Anne added. “You could do it for long and short or for recognising colours, set up different coloured hoops and ask them to jump into a red one, for example. You’d keep a chart for each activity of their names and then record in their file the date they managed to do that task. Obviously, the nature of the task would vary slightly according to the ability of the children.”
“What about painting?” Christine, being artistic, queried.
“I suppose you could do a rainbow with them,” Marie suggested. “You could mix the various colours beforehand and ask them to choose the red paint etc. They could then do their own. Or ask them to paint a big house and then a small house to see if they know the difference.”
“That’s exactly it!” Kathie nodded. “We’ll have to split them into groups, obviously and I suspect four will be best. That will mean one group with you, Anne, one group doing structured play and two groups playing. Obviously, I’ll take that second group whenever I’m free but when I’m not, that will be the best arrangement, I think.”

It was a very subdued set of children that lined up in front of the dais in the Hall for Prayers the next morning. Such was the impression made on them by Miss Robertson that you could have heard a pin drop, they were so silent. The lady herself was hard pressed to hide an amused smile as she entered but she succeeded and took them through the hymn, short reading and prayers in a very stern voice. Once those were over, she surveyed them in silence, beginning to speak just in time to stop the youngest ones from breaking into howls.
“Does anybody have anything to say?” she inquired, her voice still stern.
“We’re sorry,” it was a subdued chorus.
“Good! I hope you will all try to be nicer to each from now on,” Miss Robertson paused and her pupils looked up at her, wondering and half dreading what she might say next. “We are going to change the way we do things today and for the rest of the week. If it works, then it will be how we always do things from now on. I need you all to listen very carefully to me so that you each understand what you have to do,” she paused again to make sure every child was giving her their utmost attention. They were. It was still too soon after yesterday for them to think about playing her up again and for the moment, even Kevin and Kester were determined to behave. “I think that it is time some of you started to do some harder work,” she began. “Some of you are still learning how to count, read and write but others of you can already count, read and write a bit. We have decided to put you into little groups – by that I mean that instead of working with everybody else, you will only work with three or four others who can do the same work as you. This means that those of you who find their work hard, can get more help and those of you who find it easy, can do harder work. Of course, it also means that you won’t all do the same things at the same time – some of you might be playing whilst the rest are working – but I hope you will enjoy it. Now this is where I really need you to listen hard because I’m going to tell you who you are going to be with,” she picked up a sheet of paper from the desk in front of her.
“Alice, Kenneth, Kester, and Susan Dickie, you will be one group. Christopher, Susan Holmes, Guita, IIonka, Kevin, you will be one group. James, Felix, Martin, Pierre, you will be another group and Felicity, Lucy, Jean, Louise and Carlotta, will be our last group."

Last edited by catherine on Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:40 pm; edited 1 time in total

 

#16:  Author: catherine, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:39 pm

The four members of staff metaphorically held their breaths during the silence which greeted this announcement. Their eyes were focused on Kevin and Kester, Felix and Felicity and Alice and Louise, all of whom had now been separated. The Morrison and Graham children had also been separated but they had always been much more independent of each other than the Russells, Maynards and Johnstones. Kathie had separated Kevin and Kester partly for the sake of a more peaceful term but also because Kester was slightly ahead of Kevin. Felix and Felicity, she decided, would do better apart, to judge by all the squalls they’d had every time Felix lost his temper with his sister or walked away from her. There were signs of a promising friendship between Felicity, Jean and Lucy and this was often extended to include Louise and Carlotta, which Kathie wanted to encourage. Louise was at risk of becoming dependent on Alice for help and friendship and this would do neither girl any good – again, there had been more than one squall if Alice had decided to do something independently of her small sister. For all she had split siblings up, Kathie had kept friends together – she had noticed a growing friendship between Susan Holmes, Guita and llonka and a friendship between Alice and Susan Dickie and as she watched the expressions on the small faces in front of her, she determined not to give in, no matter how many squalls there might be. She was determined that the children should learn to think and act for themselves and not blindly follow in the steps of older siblings.
“Alice!” her voice cut across the silence and Alice jumped. “Can you tell me which people you are working with?”
“Susan an’ Kester an’ Kenneth,” Alice promptly replied.
“Good girl!” Kathie gave her a beaming smile and Alice, who had thought she was going to get into trouble for something, relaxed and returned it. “Miss Webster, perhaps you would take them to your classroom now?” she turned to Anne, who nodded. Leaving the dais, she came down to where the children were and taking Kester by the hand, led them away before Kevin and Kester could cause a fuss. Kathie promptly handed over Kevin’s group to Miss Jennings, Felix’s group to Miss Banks and took charge of Felicity’s group herself.

It was Mittagessen before the children were able to get together again – the staff had decided that it would best to keep them in their groups at Break so that they could get used to being with the same people. They had kept the children very busy all morning and there had been no time for tears or complaints or pleas to be allowed to see someone so the staff were able to breathe a sigh of relief. Mittagessen was no longer the scene of squabbles and surreptitious poking but one of happy chatter as the children exchanged news with each other. Indeed, it took the best part of five minutes to get them quiet at the end of the meal and several faces dropped when they realised it was time for their rest and talking was forbidden.
“Are we keeping them in their groups this afternoon?” Marie queried, once the children had been settled.
“I think we’ll allow the older ones to mix and the younger ones to mix,” Kathie replied, after a moment’s thought. “It’s painting this afternoon so I’d rather not have jeers and pointing because someone’s picture isn’t as good as someone else’s picture but if we keep them in their age groups, it ought to be all right. In fact, it will have to be!” she said, on a sudden decisive note. “It’s far too much work for us to split them into four groups for an activity like painting, simply because they cannot be nice to each other! They may choose who they want to paint with – within their own age group – and I shall tell them that anybody who misbehaves or is unpleasant, will be removed to bed,” she added darkly. “I’ve got letters etc. that I need to attend to however, so I’m afraid that I can’t manage to help you out this afternoon.”
“That’s all right,” Anne said quickly. “Marie, would you and Christine like to see to the older ones and I’ll tackle the younger ones? Any problems, send whoever it is through to me and I’ll deal with them!”

There was no need for either Anne or Kathie to deal with anybody, however, for the children were too pleased at being allowed to choose a friend to paint with, to be unpleasant to each other and for the first time in a while, the day ended with nobody having had to be told off for anything. The rest of the week followed a similar pattern and the children began to settle into their new ways, without too many problems.

 

#17:  Author: catherine, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:41 pm

The next important happening for the children was Felix and Felicity’s Birthday Party. They had turned six before term began but Joey had postponed their party until after the start of term and the twins had been highly delighted at the prospect of having a “proper party with friends an’ not just big girls an’ grown up people an’ babies!” Joining the children would be Marjorie and Lois Graves, Marie and Patrick Courvoisier and of course, the youngest three Maynard children, Cecil, Phil and Geoff. Christopher Maynard, the twins’ second eldest brother, would also be present since he was at home still, following an appendix operation earlier that summer. Len, Con and Margot, Ruey Richardson, Sybil, Josette and Ailie Russell and Maeve Bettany would also be present.
“Are you sure that’s enough?” Nell Wilson had demanded, when she’d heard this list. “I’m quite sure we could rustle up a few more girls for you, you know. How about Mary-Lou Trelawney, Vi Lucy, Barbara Chester and Verity Carey? Or Rosamund Lilley, Ted Grantley, Jo Scott and Ricki Fry?”
“No, thank you, Nell,” Joey had smiled sweetly in the face of this sarcasm. “That will be quite enough! I suppose you two are coming?”
“We’ll come along in time for their birthday tea,” the Head had agreed. “We can’t promise to be there much before that though, I’m afraid.”
“Well bring Jeanne and Gwynneth with you,” was all Joey had vouchsafed before she had left them.

Over at St. Nicholas meanwhile, the great excitement caused by the arrival of the party invitations, had swiftly been exchanged for wails of “I haven’t got them a present! I don’t know where to get a present from! I need to make a card! How do I make a card?”

The staff were driven nearly crackers over their wails and in the end, Kathie Robertson rang up Joey and requested that she keep her pair at home on the Friday afternoon before the party, so that the rest of the Kindergarten could spend an afternoon making cards and buying presents for the pair.
“If you don’t, there may very well not be a school for them to come back to on Monday morning!” Kathie warned her. “At the very least, there will be much weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth from now until the time the party starts and if that happens, I can’t vouch for our sanity!”
“It sounds like it!” Joey agreed, as well as she could for her laughter. “Very well! Let me have the pair for the whole day, I’ll tell them I need them to stay at home and help me arrange their party. It might be a good thing for I don’t want them upset by the thought that their little pals won’t even have cards for them and equally, I doubt their little pals could keep from telling them your afternoon plans, for I suppose you’ll have to tell them to get any kind of peace that day!”
“Yes, I suppose we would,” Kathie assented. “By the way, how would it be if I kept your guests overnight on Friday? That way they can all arrive together for the party and you won’t have to worry about getting lots of excited little people dressed!”
“It might be as well,” Joey said thoughtfully. “I don’t want their ‘first proper party’ as Felix calls it, spoilt by tears because they’ve worked themselves up to fever pitch over this and that’s more likely to happen if the rest infect them with their own excitement! Would you mind, Kathie?”
“Provided there are no monkey tricks like last time, not in the least!” Kathie answered chuckling and Joey joined in.
“I heard about that – the imps!” she chuckled. “Still, from all accounts, they got rather more than they bargained for!”
“They certainly did!” Kathie chuckled. “Well I must go and see about arrangements for Friday!”
“And I must get back to my book,” Joey agreed. “I hope, by the way, that you lot will put in an appearance on Saturday afternoon?”
“No can do, I’m afraid,” Kathie apologised. “Anne and I are going down to treat ourselves to an afternoon off and go down to Interlaken. I’m awfully sorry, Joey, but we simply don’t stand a chance of getting away otherwise, there are so few of us. It’s all I can do to give Anne and Matron some time off at weekends. We’ll look forward to hearing all about it afterwards though! Just don’t overfeed them please! I have no wish to have to deal with a set of bilious children on Saturday night!”
“As if I should! What do you take me for?!” Joey demanded indignantly and Kathie chuckled. “I sometimes think you’ve no more sense than you had that day you got your hair too close to a Bunsen burner and burned it, Mops!”
“It’s a wonder you entrust your children to me then!” Kathie retorted, laughing before ringing off.
“What’s the joke?” Anne came in a few minutes later and found her chuckling to herself.
“Joey reminding me of the time I managed to singe my hair in science!” Kathie answered laughing. “She’s going to keep her pair all day on Friday and I’ve said we’ll keep her guests here on Friday night so they can all arrive together on Saturday afternoon.”
“Well that should prevent any fighting over whose party it is,” Anne agreed, having just had to settle a fierce argument between Felix and Kevin, who had innocently remarked that he would be able to help Felix organise the party because he would be there too.

 

#18:  Author: catherine, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:41 pm

Later that day, when the excitement had not appeared to diminish in any way at all and with the prospect of two more days ahead of them, Kathie organised a meeting with Anne, Marie and Christine.
“The children need distracting!” she announced. “We simply cannot continue to let them function at such a high pitch of excitement or there will be no party at the weekend because they will all be too ill! That being so, we are going to distract them. I’ve been thinking things over and I’ve decided that it is more than time they started in on the French and German. We’ve kept to English so far since Guita, Pierre, IIonka and Carlotta can speak it almost as well as their own languages.”
“Which is only what you’d expect about IIonka, Carlotta and Pierre, given their mothers are all Old Girls!” Anne interjected but Kathie waved this aside.
“No wandering off topic!” she said sternly. “As I said, it’s been easier to keep to English whilst they were all settling in but we’ve been here a month now and it’s time they branched out into other things. Languages are very different to other subjects – you can be very clever at most things and yet struggle to pick up a language and vice versa, which is why I believe it may be necessary to compose different groups for them, depending on how they get on. The important thing to remember about languages is that there are four different skills to them: Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing. Equally, it is important that we don’t assume familiarity with the spoken language equals familiarity with the written language.”
“How do you mean?” Christine was slightly fogged by this.
“Among us, we have children who have been taught to speak all three languages from babyhood. One might therefore assume that they will have no problems with any of the skills involved – that they would be just as good at reading and writing as they are at speaking and listening. But to assume that, would be to forget that most of them have only just begun to read and write words in their own language, let alone a foreign one. Therefore, we must be careful not to get impatient with a child who can speak and understand the spoken language but struggle with reading and writing. It would be easy to assume that they are simply playing up and that if they can use the spoken language, they can use the written.” This might have been obvious to most people but Marie and Christine were in their first job and had had no prior experience of teaching languages, although they both knew enough French and German to get by so Kathie felt it necessary to go into more details than she would have with experienced colleagues. That she was right to do so was proved in Marie’s next remark of “I never thought of all of that.”
“Ah but that’s just what you must do,” Anne replied, as Kathie bit back a grin. “No matter how old children are, if you lump them all together, you only ask for trouble. However, you’ll soon learn! Now! How do you propose we do it, Kathie? Begin them all together?”
“No,” Kathie sounded thoughtful. “I think what we need to do is determine which of the children are able to do any reading or writing in French or German – and that includes Guita, Pierre, Carlotta and IIonka – and what level they are at. Once we have done that, it ought to be easier to decide how to divide them up. Before all of that however, I propose that we get them accustomed to the idea by getting them to use the different languages. For example, when we are doing Art, ask the children to name the colour they are using and then ask if they know what it is in French and German. Once they know what it is, get them to repeat it. If we are counting, help them to count up in French and German. Give them the names of objects and get them to repeat them. Get them used to the sound of the language and to recognising words and reading and writing the words will be a natural progression.”
“But what about Guita, Pierre, IIonka and Carlotta?” Marie persisted. “They will know what all the different objects are!”
“And so I imagine will Kevin, Kester, Felix and Felicity,” Kathie agreed. “But the non French and German speakers will not know the names so someone will have to tell them what they are! Why shouldn’t that someone be one of the eight that know? That way they get to feel important and involved. And what’s more, you can stretch them by asking them to try to spell it, either out loud or on the board. It will benefit them hugely.”

Kathie wasted no time in implementing her ideas and after the children’s rest period, she called them together in one of the classrooms and informed them of the latest development. She was promptly met with a babble of excitement, and had to clap her hands hard before she got silence again. She explained how it would work and that those of them that knew the names would be asked to try to spell the words as well – which wiped Kevin’s complacent expression from his face as she noticed with a degree of most reprehensible satisfaction! The children were sent off to their usual afternoon’s activities after that but over the next few days, this new venture gave them so much more to think about and talk about that the twins’ party was all but forgotten, much to the relief of the staff!

 

#19:  Author: catherine, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:42 pm

It was thanks to these measures that the twins’ party went off smoothly. Dressed in new party wear, they stood by the door ready to welcome their guests and receive their presents which Joey made them put into a big basket, ready to be opened once their guests had gone. She knew from experience just how plain spoken small children could be if they didn’t like something and she had no desire for squalls. The small guests were ushered into the Saal where the triplets, Ruey. Sybil, Josette, Ailie and Maeve were sitting. Charles was playing with his youngest siblings and the infants gathered together in a clump, shy and awestruck by the very many people in the room. Sybil, as the eldest, rose to her feet and a gasp went up as Alice, Louise and Guita saw how lovely she was.
“A princess!” Alice breathed.
“That’s not a princess!” Kevin broke in scornfully, as his eldest sister blushed. “That’s Sybil, mine and Kester’s sister!”
“She’s much too ugly and bossy an’ boring to be a princess!” Kester added.
“I need to be bossy with you two about!” Sybil retorted. “Are they very naughty, you people?” she grinned infectiously at the infants who all nodded at once, making her laugh and her brothers protest vigorously. “Enough nonsense!” Sybil hushed their protests after a minute or two. “I don’t know how long Felix and Felicity will be but why don’t we play a game whilst we’re waiting?”
“How about Sardines?” Len suggested, coming forward. “Only we’d better pair up for it or they’ll end up getting lost!”
“Pair up for Sardines?” Ailie cast a puzzled glance at her cousin. “I thought one person went to hide and the rest ran round looking for them and when you found the hider you hid with them and so on till nobody is left seeking?”
“Yes but I meant that a pair of people should hide and the rest of us should hunt in pairs so that nobody can get lost,” Len explained. “It would just mean that two people joined the hiders every time.”
“Hiding in a corner with a pack as big as this might be almost impossible,” Josette ruminated. “I know squeezing together in a corner is part of the fun but it’s rather silly if the hiders are going to be discovered just by looking in a room. How about we divide into teams? Yes Ailie! We’ll explain how to work it in a moment!” she cut off her sister’s protests. “Let’s see! How many are there of us older ones?”
“Nine of us older ones and sixteen of this lot, until Fee and Flixy join us,” Margot promptly replied.
“Except one of us should stay and look after the babes,” Len pointed out. “Let Chas do that – he’s not supposed to do much running round yet.”
“Well then we divide into three teams of eight,” Josette decided. “We each take, say a floor of the house each, send a kid off to hide and the rest of us must hunt through the rooms till we find them.”
“You, Sybil and Maeve had better captain a team each,” Con spoke. “You three are the eldest.”
“Ruey and Margot can come with me,” Sybil decided. “Con you go with Josette and Len and Ailie, you go with Maeve. Now kids!” she turned to the babies. “We’re going to put you into teams and you’re going to go to a different floor with the rest of your team. When you get there, one of you is going to hide and the rest of you will try to find them. If you find the person that is hiding then you have to hide with them and you have to stay hidden until all of the team are hidden together.”
“When you’ve all found each other, you have to hold hands and run downstairs. The first team back in here is the winning team,” Josette added, in a moment of inspiration. “Chas!” she called over to her younger cousin, who turned. “Come and list who’s in each team and when each team comes back, make sure they have all their members. No team can win unless everyone in the team is there. Maeve, you choose first.”
“One, two, three, four, five,” Maeve promptly grabbed the five nearest her – Susan Holmes, Alice, IIonka, Pierre and Christopher Graham. Josette took charge of Louise, Jean, Lucy, Kester, James Morrison and Martin Graham and Sybil took Kevin, Guita, Susan Dickie and Kenneth Morrison for her share. The twins were somewhat disgruntled at being separated but their relations knew better than to keep them together, especially when running about was involved.
“Hello! What’s happening here?” Joey and the twins appeared just as they were about to set off and some of the children’s faces fell at the thought that their game might be stopped. Nothing of the sort occurred however. On hearing of their intentions, Joey promptly announced her intention of joining in and tacked onto Josette’s team, sending Felicity to Maeve and Felix to Sybil. Charles, armed with pencil and paper, felt very important as he wrote all the names down and at the behest of his cousins, allocated an area of the house to each team. He then solemnly started the first ‘hiders’ – Felix, Felicity and Kester, who had all been chosen because they knew the layout of the house – and kept the rest waiting until he decided the three had had enough time to hide. There was no stopping them then however and it was only by dint of clutching hands that teams managed to stay together! Many were the squeals and shouts over the next half hour and two teams almost came to grief on the stairs on the way back down but in the end, it was Josette’s team that won. Their prize was to choose the next game and they promptly went for musical bumps. Joey sat down at the piano to play for them and whilst the triplets attended to wrapping the parcel for Pass the Parcel, Sybil and Ruey were appointed Judges and Josette and Maeve sat by ready to entertain the children as they left the game.

Joey was rather a puzzle to those of the little ones who had yet to get to know her properly for during that riotous afternoon she contrived both to be an excellent playmate and yet, when it was required, be as motherly as any little girl or boy could have wished. She mopped up tears, gave out comforting cuddles and encouraged and reassured those of the children who were doubtful about their ability to join in some of the games, as well as sternly separating Alice and Kevin, who had a stand up fight over whose musical statue was best. The children fell in love with her at once and as they lined up to say goodbye at the end of the afternoon, she was left laughing at their pleas for her to ‘come an’ live with us!’ She promised to visit and to have them to tea again sometime soon and with that they had to be content as they piled into the motor coach that had been employed to take them to and from St. Nicholas.

 

#20:  Author: catherine, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:42 pm

After that, life at St. Nicholas settled down and apart from occasional squabbles, nothing of any consequence occurred, much to the relief of their staff. By the time half term came, the children were learning to live together and had all gained a degree of independence that startled those of their relatives that had not seen them since term began. On the day that half term started, Kathie held an open day and excited children dragged their parents round showing them the rooms where they lived, worked and played and proudly pointing out pieces of work that adorned the walls. None of the children were to remain at St. Nicholas over the half term and it was with a huge sigh of relief and thankfulness that Kathie finally closed the door on the last of her pupils and their parents. Half term would be a week for the little ones and on the orders of Miss Annersley, who had quietly noted that Kathie had had one day off duty during the entire half term and was beginning to look pale and tired, St. Nicholas was to be closed for the week and Kathie and Anne were to fly home for the week.
“And when you come back, you must make arrangements to allow each of you some time off every week,” she added, when she had informed the pair of this. “You are doing an excellent job but because there are so few of you, the responsibility is heavier than it is in a larger School and if you are not careful, you will become worn out.”
“But how?” Kathie protested. “There are only two of us teaching staff and Matron and at least two of us need to be on hand all day, every day. Marie and Christine are free evenings and weekends and we need what free time we have to mark and prepare work etc.”
“I realise that,” the Head agreed. “However, it is hoped that the Kindergarten will be able to join us on School grounds at some point in the future and certainly, I expect that some of your pupils will go on to be pupils at the main School. That being so, it is only right that they have the chance to get to know some of the mistresses here. Sharlie Andrews, Joan Bertram and Beth Carey, who look after the Juniors here, have all offered to help out when and where they can, which should free up more time for you. This half term will see the weather begin to change for the worse, I know, but most of the mistresses can drive so unless the weather is very severe, getting to you would not be a problem,” she forestalled the next objection on Kathie’s lips. “Ladies, this is your project, nobody is going to interfere in the running of it – nobody has any need to, it is doing so well – but if I see that the amount of work you are putting in is affecting your health, I both can and will interfere with the workload you are giving yourselves,” she said gently. “Neither of you will be of any use to us if you end up ill because of overwork and you know the Chalet School’s policy on it! Sharlie, Joan and Beth will be there to take responsibility for the children whilst you use your free time in whatever way is most appropriate for you. How you organise their help and your free time, is for you to decide amongst you all – I suggest you arrange a meeting with them on your return. In late Spring and the summer, when the weather is fine, I will suggest that the Kindergarten mix with the elder girls on occasion – it will do both parties a lot of good – but in the meantime, I would like you to accept this help.” Needless to say, Kathie and Anne accepted her offer and went on their way, both with a secret sense of relief.

As the Head had suggested, the five mistresses met up early in the week following half term and soon worked out a programme whereby both Kathie and Anne could have the time off they needed without imposing too much on the others. It only took a week or so before they both began to feel the benefits of it, they both felt rested and more refreshed at the start of each week than they had done hitherto. They were especially grateful for the help of the three mistresses when, three weeks or so into the second half of the term, the children announced that they wanted to give a concert to the ‘big girls’ and nobody and nothing could persuade them otherwise!
“Where on earth have they got that idea from? That’s what I would like to know!” Anne complained to Kathie, Sharlie, Beth and Joan.
“Elder sisters?” Beth suggested. “Perhaps Felix, Felicity, Kevin and Kester were performing over half term and their cousins and sisters suggested a concert of sorts.”
“Don’t look so alarmed, you two!” Joan added, laughing. “They can do some very pretty action rhymes and the School will be thrilled whatever they do. Choose a few simple rhymes for them to do – a twenty to thirty minute concert will be more than enough for them!”
“If you really wanted to, you could get them to perform a role play,” Sharlie suggested. “The Three Bears or Little Red Riding Hood or something.”
“No-o,” Kathie sounded thoughtful. “I’m not sure that would be such a good idea. For one thing, we’ve not a lot of time on our hands and most of that time is going to be taken up with drumming the Nativity into their heads! Knowing the story is one thing but acting it is quite another!”
“Do they have to act it?” Sharlie asked suddenly and Kathie looked at her. “It’s just struck me that our babes in Lower IIIb and some of Lower IIIa are new this term and none of them are anything more than on in the crowd in our Christmas Play this year. It will take a lot of work to get your babes to the point where they are able to understand and thus act the Nativity so why don’t we join forces?”
“But how?” Anne demanded, fogged by this. “What are you proposing our babes do if you want your lot to act it?” she sounded indignant and Sharlie grinned.
“Keep calm!” she grinned. “There’s more to a Nativity Play than acting! What about the music side? The audience would hate a percussion accompaniment as given by ten year olds but one given by 4 and 5 year olds, they would love. And you could teach them a carol or two.”
“Away in a Manager and the Rocking Carol, for instance,” Beth Carey suggested. “Those are two carols the Lower Thirds know by heart so they would be able to join in if the babes forget. They ought to be able to manage one verse of each though.”
“We’ll see,” Kathie said doubtfully.
“Doubting Thomas!” Anne mocked. “You wait! We’ll get those precious infants singing those carols if it’s the last thing we do!”
“Actually, it could be quite a good idea – especially if you get the Lower Thirds to help the babes,” Joan Bertram said thoughtfully. “The present Lower Thirds will be in one or other of the Fifths when Felicity and co. join the School proper and are therefore quite likely to be dormitory prefects for them. If they can take an interest in their Juniors now, then it may be, if we’re lucky, that we see friendships develop between them, meaning that it will be so much easier for them to settle in.”
“Either way, it would benefit the Lower Thirds,” Beth Carey remarked. “At the moment, they are very much the youngest and not very important in the eyes of the rest of the School. This would help them to feel that they have a place in the School and that they do have a role to play.”
“They’re more likely to think about their behaviour if they see that younger ones are influenced by it, too, I suppose,” Kathie agreed. “We’ll have to run it past the Head but if she agrees, I’m willing to give it a go! In the meantime though, I’d like to get back to the original point of discussion! This concert that my lot want to give! I’m prepared to let them do a few action rhymes and the odd song and that’s it. There are too many of them to act out any of the stories which they know well enough to act – we’d have to make up parts – and splitting them into different groups and giving them each a different story to act would be far too much like hard work! It simply wouldn’t work!”

 

#21:  Author: catherine, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:43 pm

From that standpoint Kathie refused to budge and wisely, her colleagues did not try to make her budge. Sharlie, Joan and Beth had to return to their own quarters and once they had gone, Kathie and Anne called Marie and Christine into consultation and turned their attention to deciding what songs the children could do and when they would be able to do it. Old habits die hard with ex-Chalet School girls and before they consulted Miss Annersley, Kathie and Anne had drawn up a possible programme, come up with a list of possible dates and times and found solutions to any possible difficulties that might occur. It was a very comprehensive proposition that was put to Miss Annersley, who was privately very amused, knowing exactly why it was so comprehensive. Not that she gave any indication of her amusement, although she did gently point out to Kathie that as Headmistress of St. Nicholas, the exact details of any such programme were up to Kathie and all Kathie was required to do was to consult with the Head regarding dates, times and any help, props or costumes that might be required. This gentle reminder drew a rather heavy sigh from Kathie.
“I’m sorry. I can’t help it,” Kathie said despairingly. Hilda glanced at her thoughtfully, before indicating that they should move to the less formal setting of her sitting room.
“Kathie, I think you need to stop thinking of me as your Headmistress or as your employer and think of me as your colleague,” she said gently, pulling her down onto the sofa beside her. “I’m here to advise and help where it is needed; not to criticise or discipline you. When I interviewed you, you were brimful of confidence and enthusiasm. You were not short of ideas and I knew you were the right person for the position. I don’t regret that decision, I still feel I couldn’t have made a better choice and you are surpassing my expectations. St. Nicholas is a new venture for the Chalet School and it is for you, in consultation with your staff, to decide what direction you wish it to take. Yes, it goes without saying that I am watching – but it is from a distance. I am watching to ensure that staff and children are happy and that the venture is not at risk of failing as a result of the ideas being implemented. It worries me that you seem to have lost confidence in yourself – I have seen nothing to indicate that you are right to lack confidence. The children are settling in well, your staff are happy and St. Nicholas looks likely to do well. You, yourself, are happy?
“Yes, oh yes!” Kathie assured her. “I love the job but –,“ she stopped.
“But?” Hilda persisted gently, taking one of Kathie’s nervously clenched hands in hers.
“I-I don’t know how to treat you,” it was an embarrassed whisper.
“As a colleague and – I hope – a friend,” Hilda answered gently. “You must make the decisions you wish to make with confidence and on occasions such as this, think about what exactly you are asking for before you speak to me. For instance, you are only asking me for costumes, props etc. and if I would be prepared to provide you with an audience and a stage for half an hour one day soon. Your babes have asked you if they can do a concert and from what you tell me, you have overcome the misgivings you had and agreed to it. Previous training and instinct has made you come to me with a comprehensive programme, prepared to answer any doubts or questions I may have. I think you were right to have gone into so much detail but what you have no need to do is to give me all the details. As Headmistress in your own right, all you needed to have done is, as I said, request those things that you wish me to provide and answer any questions I may have. If you feel unsure and want help and advice, then I would be delighted to give it in any way I can but if you are confident with the programme you have, you must not feel that you have to ‘run it past me’. Ask my opinion, if you wish, by all means, but otherwise, have the courage of your convictions! Treat me as an equal, rather than a superior! And if you ever feel awkward about doing so, remember this: Nell Wilson was at one time my Junior, she then became my co-Head and now, I consider myself fortunate if she treats me as her equal!”
“What rubbish are you talking now, Hilda Annersley?” a voice came from the doorway and Hilda looked at Kathie, a pained expression on her face. “What are you two doing?” Nell continued. “Have I interrupted one of your famous pep talks, Hilda? What’s the poor girl done to deserve it?” she grinned at Kathie.
“Pep talk indeed!” Hilda said indignantly. “I was doing nothing of the sort! Merely advising Kathie that she should treat me as an equal, not her superior!”
“Ah! So you’ve been on the receiving end of that little pep talk?” Nell grinned at Kathie. “Most of those members of staff who are ex-pupils of hers have received it at some point, so don’t you worry! It’s that high standard of behaviour she sets – makes it impossible for people to see that really, she’s a normal human being with the same irritating little habits and faults as the rest of us! In fact, come to think of it, she has more than most of us, she just hides them better!”
“As I said, I consider myself fortunate if she treats me as her equal!” Hilda said resignedly to Kathie, who was striving to control her laughter. “Most people wait to be asked to be seated in here, Nell Wilson,” she added, as Nell availed herself of her favourite armchair. “You, on the otherhand, seem to leave your manners at the door, every time you visit.”
“Manners? No need for manners at this end of the building!” Nell grinned. “In any case, my dear, what’s yours is mine and -,”
“What’s yours is your own,” Hilda ended resignedly.
“How very kind of you to say so,” Nell smiled benignly at her. “Now, when you remember that you are currently entertaining your two co-Headmistresses, you might manage to get up from your settee and find us some refreshments, like a polite and kind host should!” Kathie, forgetting her embarrassment and nervousness, doubled up with laughter at the expression on Hilda’s face and Nell, who had entered the study in time to overhear most of Hilda’s remarks and felt the tension in the air as she entered the sitting room, looked like the cat that got the cream. In fact, as Hilda informed her later, she almost purred in satisfaction!

 

#22:  Author: catherine, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:45 pm

And I *think* this is a new bit ... but then it might not be!! Very Happy

In the days that followed, Kathie pondered the scene in the study and her feelings towards the two Heads. She realised that Hilda was correct and if she were to make a real success of the post, she would have to overcome the habits of old and inform people of her decisions rather than ask them for permission to carry them through or for their approval. She made no mention of the banter between Hilda and Nell to Anne, realising that it had been for her eyes and ears only but she did mention Hilda’s comment over her need for approval and although they discussed it between themselves, it took a discussion with Gillian Culver, Peggy Burnett and Rosalind Yolland, who had all come over for the evening.
“What’s troubling you, Kathie?” Gillian demanded, an hour or so after their arrival. “You’re wearing a worried air, yet you both say all is well with your little lot.”
“It is,” Kathie assured her quickly. “I was just thinking about the ease with which you speak about Hilda and Nell and well, wondering if I ever can. I just can’t seem to get out of the habit of addressing them as Miss Annersley and Miss Wilson and feeling that I need to ask them for their approval all the time!”
“It is hard at first,” Rosalind Yolland admitted, it being her first term as well. “But when you hear everybody else address them as Hilda and Nell and chatter informally with them, you can’t help but do the same. It feels odd to start with but then you don’t realise you’re doing it and it becomes habit. As for asking their approval, well I discuss the syllabus with them but the methods and techniques I use to deliver that teaching are entirely my decision. They employed me to teach Art and thus to use whichever methods and controls I felt necessary to enable me to do that – within reason, naturally. If I feel I need to give out extra prep, dock order marks, put them in silence, give them a punishment lesson or whatever, then I do it. I’ll communicate my decision to the rest of the staff, so that they may know what has happened in case it affects their lessons, but I won’t ask permission. After all, if they don’t consider that I should be able to use my own judgement without deference to them or anybody else, then they should not have employed me.”
“I can see though, that it is easier for you to think and feel that way than Kathie and Anne,” Gillian remarked. “You see Hilda every day and Nell is over that way a fair amount as well. What’s more, you’re only one of a crowd of people who address them informally and generally, when you see them to speak to, it’s in the less formal setting of the staffroom. Again, I was one of a few people who addressed Nell as Nell – when I didn’t call her Bill,” she added, with a grin. “But it was more difficult to do it with Hilda because I saw far less of her and usually only in the more formal setting of Nell’s study. It’s the same for Kathie and Anne – they don’t have the free time to meander along to the main Chalet and ensconce themselves in the staffroom for a friendly chat – whenever they see Hilda and Nell, it’s in the confines of the study or Hilda’s sitting room, or over here. There, you are on your own with her – or them - and unless you’re one of a crowd, you are very much more aware of their status. All the same, not making decisions without their approval is madness, Kathie! You’re a Headmistress now for heaven’s sake!”
“Think about it this way, Kathie: Hilda employed you to be Headmistress of St. Nicholas House. She interviewed people in the knowledge that it would not be on the same site as the main School and that the appointee would have to be able to make their own decisions and see them through without deference to anybody else.”
“But Kathie does!” Anne protested loyally, interrupting Peggy.
“Oh I do so far as the kids and the every day running of things are concerned,” Kathie agreed. “I don’t run to her with every little thing – I think she was just saying I need to be more confident in talking to her.”
“In other words, instead of telling her about something and waiting for her approval, inform her of your decision,” Peggy said firmly. “Treat her as an interested spectator. She is very interested in how you are all getting on and wants it to be successful but she has no say in how you run things. She employed someone else to run things and only expects to be consulted over big decisions or changes. Just remember that you are Headmistress of the Kindergarten and if you wish to do something, do it. If your little darlings announce their intention of giving a concert or the like to the rest of us and you are agreeable, consult with Hilda regarding arrangements etc. but don’t ask her permission! Ask her whether she thinks the girls would be a willing audience or some such thing but discuss it with her rather than lay it all before her and await her verdict!”
“It’s an easy thing to do though,” Rosalind admitted thoughtfully. “I admit that during my first two or three chats with them, I did find myself almost waiting for their approval. It was only when they asked me one or two things about the syllabus and I discovered that they didn’t actually know very much about art – no more than the average schoolgirl, really, that I recognised that asking for their approval would be pointless because they wouldn’t know enough to know whether I was right or not. After that, I realised that if approval was what I wanted, the only way I would get it would be to show them why they were right to choose me to replace Herr Laubach. The day Hilda came to me and told me how well she thought I was doing and congratulated me because she’d heard so many girls say how much they were enjoying their Art lessons, was worth far more to me than any statement of approval would have been. It should be the same for you, Kathie. Hilda and Nell haven’t much of an idea about teaching and managing very small children and although they are interested in their welfare and development, they have no wish to take over those tasks. They have therefore appointed someone who does have the necessary knowledge and capability and have made you Headmistress of your own department. In that way, they do not expect you to feel you should ask their permission to do something; you organise things the way you want to organise them, consulting with them only where necessary.”
“Obviously, if you feel unsure about your position then …,” the wicked Peggy Burnett got no further as Kathie, throwing off her worries, reached for a handy cushion and heaved it at her friend, with a sure and accurate aim.
“Anymore comments like that, Miss Burnett, and I shall ensure you are removed from the premises and what’s more, I shall refuse to allow you to return!” she retorted and Peggy Burnett chuckled.
“Anymore cushion throwing and I shall advise your superiors that you are not fit to be in charge of a Kindergarten!” she capped.
“And admit that they’ve employed a PT mistress who can’t move quickly enough to dodge a cushion when it’s thrown at her?” Kathie teased her.
“Enough squabbling, you two!” Gillian put in, laughing. “Honestly! Talk of KG babies, you two are as bad as any of them!”
“Speaking of KG babies, what delights do they have in store for us?” Rosalind demanded. “You’re all being very secretive about it! Not even Sharlie, Joan or Beth will tell us anything!”
“I should hope not!” Kathie said severely.
“You’ll just have to wait and see!” Anne added, her eyes dancing wickedly.

 

#23:  Author: catherine, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:47 pm

And this bit definitely is new!! Very Happy

Fortunately for the patience of the staff at the main Chalet, they did not have to ‘wait and see’ for long. At the end of the week after the conversation between the five friends, there was great excitement at St. Nicholas.
“It’s today!” Kevin jumped up and down on his bed in excitement.
“What’s today?” Martin Graham demanded, eyeing this behaviour in surprise. “Is it your birthdays today?”
“No, silly!” Kester laughed, having joined his twin and started to jump on his bed. “Today’s when we do our concert! It’s our birthday soon though,” he added, as an afterthought.
“Boys who jump on beds don’t have birthdays!” a stern voice said from the doorway and the twins hastily jumped off their beds for Matron Allen was becoming a force to be reckoned with and they had no desire to get on her wrong side today. “If I catch you two doing that again, I shall leave you standing on them for the rest of the day,” she warned them.
“We’ll be good,” Kester promised hurriedly. “But Matron, isn’t it exciting? We can give our concert today!”
“Children who don’t hurry up and wash and dress, won’t be giving any concert at all,” was all Matron vouchsafed. A moment later, however, she found herself at risk of being knocked over as there was a concerted rush to the bathroom.
“Wait!” Kathie came to the rescue, having been to quell a similar disturbance in the girls’ dormitory. “Go back to your cubicles, boys, please,” she sent them back and when they were all looking at her, albeit with disgruntled and impatient expressions, she spoke again. “You know the rules by now. Only two people at a time are allowed in the bathroom and the first two people today are Christopher and Kester, so there was no reason for you all to rush out the room like that. Say sorry to Matron please, for she was almost knocked over by you all.” The boys murmured their apologies and then she let Christopher and Kester go to the bathroom. “Well I think we can say today has well and truly started!” Kathie chuckled to Matron.
“And it’s only going to get worse!” that lady informed her.
“Such pessimism!” Kathie shook her head, amused.
“Why are you shaking your head, Miss Robertson?” a voice asked from behind her and Kathie swung round to find Louise gazing up at her, wide-eyed.
“Matron thinks you’re all going to be very naughty today because you’re all very excited,” she explained, stooping down to tie the cord of Louise’s dressing gown, which was dangling to the ground. “I think she’s wrong so I was shaking my head.”
“I think she’s silly,” Louise said, after gazing at Matron for a moment. “We can’t be naughty cos then you wouldn’t let us do a concert. But I think I need to go and wash now cos otherwise the others will all be cross cos we’ll be taking too long,” she added anxiously.
“Off you go then,” Kathie straightened up, sending her off with a smile. “There you are! Out of the mouths of babes!” she turned to Sally Allen, who laughed.
“Have it your own way!” she retorted. “What a difference in that child though! She’s become independent much more quickly than I thought she would.”
“She’s struck up a friendship with Felicity, Jean, Lucy and Carlotta,” Kathie replied. “Those four are all quite independent and through them Louise is learning to fend for herself rather than hang onto Alice. Alice is improving in leaps and bounds because of it and she and Susan Dickie are becoming nice little leaders.”

It was perhaps fortunate that Louise had come upon the two adults for on scampering back to her dormitory, the small girl imparted Miss Robertson’s remarks to the rest of her dormitory and the news rapidly spread until all 18 members of the Kindergarten knew of it. They were in full agreement with Louise’s opinion of Matron and that lady was reduced to fits of laughter when, on demanding to know why she had eighteen heads shaking at her, she was informed that she was very silly for thinking they could possibly be naughty today of all days. Needless to say, they thought she was even sillier for laughing and they informed Miss Robertson and Miss Webster of this, with great seriousness.
“Do you know, I think you might be right,” Kathie confided in them, with a twinkle. “Now, we’ll have a practise of our songs later on but this morning, you’re going to have Art and then after Break, you shall be doing something very different.”
“What?” Half a dozen voices demanded eagerly.
“Oh I can’t possibly tell you!” Kathie returned. “I want it to be a surprise, you see.”
“An’ it wouldn’t be a surprise if you told us,” Kevin finished, with a sigh.
“Quite right, Kevin!” Kathie smiled and refused to say anything more on the subject - then!

 

#24:  Author: Lesley, Location: Allhallows, Kent PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 6:09 pm

Oh good - hadn't seen either of the last two posts - and also chuckled over the one before them - though I seem to remember being blamed for it! Wink

Thanks Catherine - lovely to see this again.

 

#25:  Author: MaryR, Location: Cheshire PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 6:15 pm

Lovely to see all of this and read it again - I did enjoy the scene in the study. Nell and Hilda made me laugh out loud.

Thank you so much, Catherine.

 

#26:  Author: Mrs Redboots, Location: London, UK PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 6:33 pm

Thank you so much for reposting this, and for the lovely updates!

One of my favourite series.....

 

#27:  Author: Rosy, Location: Gloucestershire-London-Aberystwyth PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 6:41 pm

Louise is very sweet, and it's lovely to see them all developing together as characters. Thankyou!

 

#28:  Author: catherine, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne PostPosted: Wed Apr 12, 2006 1:00 pm

And this is verging on the ridiculous ...

She had made a wise decision in getting the children to do Art for, in their state of suppressed excitement, it would have been nigh on impossible to expect anything resembling a calm first half of the morning, had they been expected to do sums or writing.
“I’m very glad that we can do Art,” Alice confided to Susan Dickie. “I don’t think I could have managed to work very hard at my sums today.”
“Or writing,” Susan agreed. “It’s very hard to have to think what comes next but it’s all right to paint cos then we don’t have to think.”
“Don’t you?” Anne overheard this. “Well, Susan, I think you might find it would help you if you did think, because then you would know that if you hold your paintbrush over the floor like that, paint will drop onto the floor and make a mess.”
“Silly Susan,” Alice giggled as Susan looked down at the floor – without, it should be said, having moved her paintbrush! Anne sighed and tweaked the paintbrush from Susan’s fingers, setting it down carefully, before sending her for cloths.
“Alice, do you know what the surprise is?” Louise came wandering over to her sister. “Flixy thinks it must be something very exciting cos today is exciting.”
“All surprises are exciting,” Alice informed her younger sister, grandly.
“But I don’t think they are,” Felix objected. In recent days, he had made it his duty to follow Louise around and protect her, whenever he thought it was necessary – usually when it was highly unnecessary! Nobody had yet discovered what exactly he thought would befall Louise if he were not there but he raised strong objections to Louise going anywhere alone, insisting that she should be accompanied by a ‘man’ if she showed any signs of doing so! Louise herself didn’t object and the two could often be seen to be walking around having quite serious conversations – or what they classed as serious conversations. Nobody else, except perhaps Felicity, could make any sense out of them. “It was a surprise for Chas when he had his spendix out but it wasn’t very nice,” he continued, now.
“Appendix, Felix,” Anne corrected, hiding a grin.
“That’s what he said,” Louise nodded. “Spendix.”
“I did,” Felix agreed and since by this time, the floor was clean and the excess paint had been wiped off Susan’s brush, Anne decided it would be wiser not to argue the point with the pair, and withdrew to chuckle over it privately.

On the other side of the room, Kevin and Kester were working together on a picture of a train and they too, were busy discussing the forthcoming surprise.
“I think it must be that somebody important is coming,” Kester decided.
“But we don’t know anybody important,” Kevin objected.
“That’s true,” Kester considered this gravely. “It could be the Queen,” he suggested.
“But why would the Queen come here?” Kevin frowned. “This is Switzerland.”
“Well maybe cos this is sort of Mummy’s school and Daddy’s one of her ‘sirs’,” Kester proposed. “She could be coming to see if Mummy can still be a lady and Daddy can still be a sir. Only really I think that’s a bit silly of her, cos of course they should still be her lady an’ her sir.”
“And they aren’t even here for her to meet!” Kevin decided, sure by this time that his twin was completely right. “Do you think she’ll like our painting?”
“Who will like your painting?” Marie Jennings demanded, as she came over to see what they were doing.
“The Queen,” Kevin replied.
“The Queen?!” Marie echoed.
“Yes. The Queen. She is coming to see us all after Break and that’s what Miss Robertson’s surprise is,” Kester explained.
“I see,” Marie swallowed her giggles. “Well I think that if you want the Queen to like your painting, you ought to do a bit more of it. Why don’t you paint some people into the picture?”

“Did I just hear you mention the Queen?” Christine Banks demanded as Marie came over to her, having set the twins to work once more.
“You did,” Marie replied. “She’s coming to visit us after Break.”
“Who is?” Anne demanded, overhearing this.
“The Queen,” Marie informed her and her colleagues stared at her.
“The Queen is coming to visit us after Break?” Anne repeated at last and Marie giggled, whilst Christine, suddenly putting two and two together, gave a chuckle.
“You’re wrong, you know,” she told them. “I know that really we have a clown arriving after Break and coming to stay for the rest of the day.” She had been spending a little time with Guita, Susan Holmes, Kenneth Morrison and Charles Graham who had decided that since they were giving a concert, the surprise must be that they were going to have a clown to help them as clowns came to parties to make people laugh.
“A clown?” Anne echoed feebly, beginning to wonder if the world was going mad.
“A clown with a grapefruit,” Christine replied gravely but this was too much for Marie, who dissolved into fits of giggles, infecting both Anne and Christine as well. The children, hearing their peals of laughter, put down their paintbrushes and stared wide eyed at the three adults.
“I think that Matron must have made them silly as well,” Louise announced gravely.

 

#29:  Author: Lesley, Location: Allhallows, Kent PostPosted: Wed Apr 12, 2006 5:43 pm

I think that was lovely! Laughing

 

The CBB -> Starting again at Sarres...


output generated using printer-friendly topic mod, All times are GMT

Page 1 of 1

Powered by phpBB 2.0.6 © 2001,2002 phpBB Group