At last the great day arrived and, kitted out from head to toe, we presented ourselves to the headmistress. I was so glad that many of my classmates from the primary school were there. We seemed so small among the great big pupils. Suddenly from being the big girls in Primary, we became the wee girls in our new school.

Then we were introduced to our new teachers. Up to now we had had one familiar face all day. Now we were to have at least five different teachers – and sometimes more – per day. Classes were divided into ‘study periods’ each about forty-five minutes long and each period began with a short prayer. 

Assembly was twice daily, morning and lunchtime and was a shared experience.  Here following prayers, several announcements were made and the names of ‘detainees’ were called out. These were pupils who had wittingly or unwittingly incurred detention.

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