Jack was regularly set upon by Gideon throughout those bleak wintery days. He never fought back in the hope Gideon would get bored and turn his attention elsewhere. At least Archie helped afterwards and made Jack smile by nicknaming Gideon, Kyffers and Droggers the Stupid Club.
Continue reading “Hard Times”Beating
One playtime at school, the ground was whitened with a sprinkling of snow and the wind swept into the shivering children. Jack was chatting to friends amongst the snow flurries. The sneering figure of Gideon, closely followed by Kyffers, Droggers and their odd walks, forced Jack’s friends out of the way.
Continue reading “Beating”Bully
Later that morning in school, Gideon hung around the corridor between lessons. His eyes darted at the pupils hurrying along. He leant over to his entourage, “What a bunch of losers,” he sneered. Then he saw him. Jack Nobody was talking to someone and it looked like he was smiling. Gideon narrowed his eyes and walked toward him. Smashing his shoulder into the smaller boy, Gideon leant in and hissed “Dickhead!!” As the bigger boy strolled away, Jack’s eyes widened as he rubbed his shoulder.
Continue reading “Bully”Rallying Cry
The Gronk-LaTwonks decided to get straight down to the serious business of domination. No scruples could be afforded while clawing their way up the social ladder. This was a quest to force their way into a position of respect and envy. Over breakfast one cold, dark morning, Gronk and Munter sat their children down. They focussed Griselina and Gideon on the framed rules, which hung on the paint-peeled wall. They were proud of the rules.
Continue reading “Rallying Cry”Speech
Miss whippet stared at a gathering of the younger children.
Continue reading “Speech”Discipline
Every morning, in all weather conditions, Miss Whippet lined the children up for inspection. Shoes were polished, trousers or skirts crisply ironed and the smart blue blazers spotless and displaying the appropriately coloured badges. Miss Whippet liked to rule with military strictness. She walked up and down the line with hands firmly behind her back. Sometimes she had to pick faults with Bosworth, although she did so with the proper decorum those children warranted. A whisper here or gentle coaxing there. But Goodson had to be brought down to size irrespective of the standard of their uniform.
Continue reading “Discipline”Curriculum
On the educational front, english, maths and science were taught, but they were periphery on the curriculum. The school’s raison d’être coincided with Miss Whippet’s agenda, which was imparting the fundamentals of Snobbier-Than-Thou to Bosworth House. This superior role was entrusted to the self-confessed hugely talented Mrs DeVilliers, who was supremely qualified for the task. She was the wife of Gerard DeVilliers, or Fathead as he liked to be called. Mrs DeVilliers regarded herself as the finest dressed, most pre-eminently intelligent lady in the Snook. She was of the view everyone should at least try to emulate her impressiveness. The Snobbier-Than-Thou curriculum was how she lived every moment, so she was well placed to impart this way of life.
Continue reading “Curriculum”Acceptable Fraud
Miss Whippet especially liked allocating children to the appropriate house upon their entry to Snookington School and also appointing prefects to the senior year. Her decisions would affect the children for years. They stayed in their respective houses unless, in extreme circumstances, the difficult decision had to be made to demote one or more children to Goodson. Even that would be a good day for Miss Whippet as she enjoyed inflicting psychological harm.
Continue reading “Acceptable Fraud”Prefects
This state of affairs was reinforced by the prefect system. All prefects came from Bosworth and they naturally treated their friends and most others from Bosworth well. Those children in a position of authority wore a badge embossed with ‘Prefect’ on their lapels. Goodson pupils tried to avoid their counterparts from Bosworth whenever possible, but any contact with a prefect never ended well. The head prefect enforced a sub-set of school rules and managed the prefect rota system. Prefects patrolled the school buildings and grounds in twos during break time, which enabled the teachers to hide away in the staff room where they had tea, coffee, cakes and a selection of à la carte meals. The teaching staff disliked interacting with children during breaks, so they abdicated all power to the prefects during these times.
Continue reading “Prefects”Schoolchildren
Poshey children were top drawer and the upper echelon of society. It was as simple as that. Way below them were Gossip children, who were not all bad as far as Miss Whippet was concerned, but not nearly as impressive as Posheys. However Outsider children were just common street urchins. Miss Whippet enjoyed making sure those scoundrels knew their place in the world; at the bottom of the pile. They had only one useful purpose, which was to get stood on and make everybody who mattered feel good about themselves. Outsider children were used as cannon fodder, to be ridiculed and humiliated as preparation for inevitable manual jobs in and around the Snook.
Continue reading “Schoolchildren”