Boarding School realities

[Historicalroad]

Just wondering if anyone who attended Boarding Schools between the 60s and 90s would be willing to share their experiences?

So as to not drip feed, I'm attempting, though failing miserably so far, to write a novel. Purely fictional. I have my characters and a storyline but it works best set in a boarding school.

I've never stepped foot inside a boarding school. I've no idea what they're like but I want to keep it as realistic as possible. I've trawled the internet to try and get an insight into what life is like at boarding schools but I'm struggling. I don't think the plot would fair as well if it was set today, hence why I'm looking at some time between the 60s and the 90s.

Sounds exciting. For some reason people find the secretive, ritualistic inner world of boarding schools endlessly fascinating so you'll definitely have an audience! Good luck with the novel

The impression I got from the OP is that the school is more a background that has to be believable, rather than central to the story.

So key essentials to not get wrong for me would be:

• poor safeguarding / pastoral care compared with modern days
• busy lives with limited free time
• special language/terms for things
• older pupils responsible for non-lesson discipline
• younger pupils being 'subservient'/'respectful' to older ones, eg clearing plates, giving up best seats, running errands
• limited contact with home

Probably also

• rules on uniform and when /what home clothes can be worn
• meals of dubious quality, limited if any choice

@LittleandOften - so true - Harry Potter is sort of just a boarding school story with added magic. So children living together without their parents - but is that not somewhat what the Narnia books were - children away from their parents - and it was of a time so the War. Interesting point Little , ( and I did read Mallory Towers) I suspect that there is a middle ground ( more usual) between terrible boarding and idyllic.

my friend was packed off to boarding school on his 7th birthday. he remembers being told to be a man and not blub. he was SEVEN. he remembers regular beatings after which you would shake the hand of the master who had beaten you and thank them for showing you the error of your ways! He says he enjoyed his school days but it has seriously damaged him and his ability to form relationships and show empathy

Occasionally there would be real excitement in the evening. Some boys would drive in the school gates and try and get into the boarding houses. We would leap out of bed to the window and peer out and watch the head mistress chase them away in her car. Although thinking about it, if they were driving they must have been at least 17-18. Which isn’t right....yeah safeguarding didn’t happen.

I can answer any questions

I think that it is also a good idea to identify why children were sent to boarding school. At my school many girls had parents in the military posted overseas (some had fathers who saw conflict in the Falklands), several were employed in the oil industry and some were related to staff.

I read Malory Towers, and my parents promised me it would be exactly the same. I was very disappointed. In no way was it the same. We did have fun, and we did get up to things because no one was watching.

We went on a school trip to buy Christmas presents age 14. We were taken on a coach to Bath, dropped off and told what time to return to the coach. That was it, suddenly we were roaming around a city we didn’t know or have a map or anything really. How we survived is amazing.

Basilisk Lots of older children's fiction takes nice middle class children and gets rid of their parents putting them somewhere with poor oversight.

Narnia - off to a relative
Famous Five - stay with Uncle and Aunt too busy focussing on science
Secret garden - relative
The Railway Children - mother too busy writing to oversee
etc.

@MrsMoastyToasty yep I was an army brat (although I was the only one at my school at the time-everyone else was from an upper class background-they were horrified to find out that I didn't have a trust fund!)
Later on my school merged with another school and there were more army brats-one girls father did time in Iraq and was actually captured by saddam husseins army. I will never forget when he can to speech day after being released-he was so thin and hollow-his eyes were dead. I happily bumped into him years later and was made up to see that he had put on weight and come back to life!

At my prep school circa 1965 part of the uniform was Lyle stockings and a suspender belt. I can't believe I was fastening suspenders when I was 8 years old.

We had a huge black cloak we wore everywhere and galoshes which slipped over our buttoned shoes when it was wet.

We played Lacrosse whatever the weather.

Bathroom floors were polished concrete (very fashionable now I hear) and freezing underfoot. Chilblains were normal, I was never without them in the winter months.

The bathroom was at one end of a long corridor and used sanitary towels were meant to be put in a bucket in a cupboard at the far end of the corridor which was lined with the doors to all the dormitories. I could not face that terrifying walk (I was 10 when my periods started) so I used to stash them in the bottom of my wardrobe.

It was a highly regarded school and the worst years of my life.

Late 70s - early 80s, boarding school was:
Racist - matron told everyone to ignore the very few black girls because they were straight out of the jungle
Incredibly snobby - children from state schools were referred to as common yobs by staff. We weren't allowed to mix.
So boring - we were not allowed out or in to shops except escorted in groups on Saturday afternoon. There were no evening or weekend activities except church, games (PE) and prep (homework)
Bitchy - not surprising in groups of deeply miserable, bored teenage girls
Uncaring - you asked about relationships with teachers. There were none. Teachers went home to their own homes at 3.30pm. The boarders were supervised by a series of deeply dysfunctional and unhappy upper-class women who had fallen on hard times and got the job because it included board and lodging. They had no experience of dealing with young people.

Just for a bit more context, the novel is going to be very much for adults.

The main character is actually a Professor at the school.

Other prominent characters, however, do include two sixth formers, a 15 year old, the wife of the Professor and a Deputy Head.

It's primarily going to be about the relationships between the characters but the boarding school is the facilitator of these relationships.

Why Professor? Given that that’s a university title which wouldn’t be used at a school.

“Professor” at a school? I know that title is used in Harry Potter, but it wasn’t used at either of the boarding schools I attended. It’s usually a university title and I not aware of British schools using it (others will no doubt chip in if they know otherwise).

X-posted!

I had a friend who recieved her education in Italy and she referred to her teachers as Professors. Though not really relevant for this!

Damn you, Harry Potter and your
"No need to call me sir, Professor."

Though another friend said when she attended her boarding school here, the teachers were referred to as beaks. That's one I haven't heard before.

When I was at school they were just teachers, Sir and Miss mostly.

Aren't beaks a specifically Etonian thing? (just Miss / Mrs here - and over the course of 6 years, only two Mr's)

Ours were referred to as 'Miss Haversham' or 'Mr Scrooge' but amongst ourselves, just referred to by surname 'Haversham' or 'Scrooge'

You could have a Dr I suppose, though we certainly didn't have any.

In the UK a professor is a title attached to a university post. It's not a roaming personal title like a Dr. In the USA its very different, where its applicable to any college teacher. Depends on your setting I suppose.

We called Male teachers Sir, females teacher Mrs / Miss surname. We also had a few Doctors and a Reverand who was simply “Rev” (and a lovely man!)

I think I'll stick to Sir

@ArchieHarrison I don't actually know what the school was that my friend went too. It isn't Eton, I know that, but from my understanding apparently it ranks at the same sort of level

In short OP if you insisted on calling a school teacher ‘Professor’ your readers would be entitled to assume this individual had once held a university position but had been forced to leave/removed under shameful circumstances and could not bring themselves to relinquish the now meaningless title. Readers may go on to infer that said title is the only thing that has persuaded their spouse to stay with them (given the prior, undisclosed disgrace).

Up to you ...