Books set in Boarding Schools

[Aroundtheworldin80moves]

DD(9) has developed a bit of an obsession with Boarding School books. I can think of...
Harry Potter
St Clare's
Malory Towers (she loves this!)
Worst Witch

I don't really want any more Blyton. I have some old Chalet School books, but she struggles with reading so might be a bit hard for her.

Any other ideas please?

I loved the Jennings books by Anthony Buckeridge at that age - boys rather than girls at boarding school, but very funny.

For something more up to date but fantasy-based, my dd liked The School for Good and Evil series.

The Trebizon series is very similar to St Clares and Mallory Towers.
School Friends series by Ann Bryant
School for Stars
Cloudberry Castle
The Skylarks’ War
The Children of Castle Rock
There’s a series by Lyn Gardener but I can’t remember what it’s called.

I was like her! Still a bit fascinated actually.
Cross my heart and hope to spy is a great series.

Trebizon are good.

I've been reading the synopsis of the Trebizion books... First few are ok, then it seems to be rather focused on boy trouble? (DD is of the opinion that boys are stinky and annoying, and boyfriends silly...)

Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer! It was my favourite book when I was around your dd's age. It is about a girl who goes away to boarding school and wakes up in the same school but during the First World War. She continues to swap places with Charlotte (hence she is Charlotte sometimes), a great boarding school book.

Charlotte Sometimes looks great.

The Chalet School books are more old fashioned in language but shouldn’t be too hard, I started reading them about 9 but I was an advanced reader.
The Naughtiest Girl In The School by Enid Blyton is good too. I think she wrote 3 and someone else has written a few more ‘in her style’

Chalet School Series
Abbey School Series
Antonia Forest (start with Autumn term)
Jenny and the Syndicate (there's others in the series, but I only read that one)
Malory Towers
St Claires
Naughtiest Girl
Jennings
Billy Bunter (and Bessie Bunter)

Most of those are fairly old fashioned now.
There's also modern ones like the "Olivia Flies High" set, which are quite fun-at any rate dd loved them.

Dd (10) has recently discovered the murder most unladylike series and scarlet and ivy. They are a bit Agatha Christie-ish.

Trebizon, yes they do have boyfriends, and there is at least one where boyfriend trouble is quite a focus of the book (but not the only one)
But as a child who didn't particularly find boyfriends a good readable topic, I still enjoyed the books.
They are very sporty based (Rebecca, the MC is heading for pro-tennis), which for a child who isn't interested in sport might be a turn-off. Again, it's not the main focus, even the sporty bits are more about friendships, but if she's likely to get put off quickly by it then it's probably a no-go.

Antonia Forest's Marlow series is v good.

Do have a look at ‘Beswitched’ by Kate Saunders - DD loved it, after Waterstone’s recommended it.
www.amazon.co.uk/Beswitched-Kate-Saunders/dp/1407108972?tag=mumsnetforu03-21
She also read the ‘Murder Most Unladylike’ books - a great series.

Chalet School hands down!

My DC all started reading them between the ages of 8-10. They’ve all loved them. (Which gives me great joy!)

DTs (9) are currently devouring the Scarlet & Ivy books so they might be worth a try. I also second the Jennings books - my DS loved them and one of the DTs started to read them during lockdown too.

@hoopaloopa

Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer! It was my favourite book when I was around your dd's age. It is about a girl who goes away to boarding school and wakes up in the same school but during the First World War. She continues to swap places with Charlotte (hence she is Charlotte sometimes), a great boarding school book.

I loved that book!

My 11 year old daughter loves the Murder Most Unladylike books, she also loved Malory Towers etc and Harry Potter

These have all been mention Ed before but deserve another vote:
Antonia Forest books starting with Autumn Term. They follow a family both at home and at school and are in a different league to other school stories in terms of their depth and 'realness'. Sadly hard to find now though.
Chalet School - especially the early ones. They're basically the reason I developed a love of languages and went on to study them at university.
I also loved Trebizon as a child. The boys are incidental. The last few books are week but the early ones are excellent.

The Mysterious Benedict Society is great!

Girls Own Sales and Wants on Facebook is full of people (mainly women) who collect boarding school stories and many are Mums with school age children. Some Grandmas. Might be able to recommend stuff you haven't thought of? Or maybe post a want asking for unwanted duplicates for price of postage? That way you could try out stuff.

Also look up Patricia Caldwell Vivians School Series on Amazon. She writes Chalet School type books aimed at girls a bit more mature than St Clares/Malory Towers but loads less complicated than the Chalet School. Plus she is writing NOW so it's not about stuff that happened 50 years ago. It's not not boy obsessed. And one of them is about a foreign exchange visit and another about a girl who had been adopted. I LOVED them.