Johnny goes for an interview to attend his first boarding school.

This is an extract from the book I have started writing entitled 'Educating Johnny' This part of the story like the rest of the book is based on true events and is set in the ninteen fifties.

The Colonel was opening his daily post,whilst eating his breakfast of toast and marmalade. Suddenly he announced.

'Ah! at last I have received a reply to the letter I sent to the headmaster of Harrington Hall College in Norfolk. He has agreed to see us and Johnny next Monday afternoon'.

Johnny who was sat opposite his father at the breakfast table busily eating his cereal, looked across at his father and said.

'Are we moving to Norfolk, we have not long been living here and its nice here living in this quiet village'

Agnes who was sat between Johnny and her husband took hold of Johnnys hand and looking at him said in a clear slow voice.

'No Johnny we are not moving to Norfolk. Harrington Hall College is a large boarding school set in the Norfolk countryside. Your father and I have decided that it's time that you began boarding school, your old enough now'.

'That's right right Johnny as your mother says, your old enough now to go away to school'.

'But I don't want to go to any boarding school.I'm only just eight years old.Besides I like the school I'm at. I don't want to be away from my friends, or you two'.

Responded Johnny with tears forming in his eyes.

'Now you listen to me young man,your mother and I know whats best for you, so your going to boarding school. So you had better get used to the idea, do you understand. If your accepted for Harrington Hall College, you will have to knuckle down and work hard at your studies. Goodness knows you will need to if your going to get into Sandhurst when your old enough. I have had to get used to being away from you and your mother when I have been posted abroad, so it's a good time for you to start learning to be away from home, understood'.

Tear started streaming down Johnnys face as he turned to his mother with a pleading look on his face and said.

'Mum please don't send me away. I don't want to have to go away,please'.

'I'm sorry Johnny but your fathers right, you have to get used to being away from home, it will help you for your future if you start now. You will make new friends, and you will get to see your old friends during the school holidays'.

Johnny jumped up knocking over his chair as he ran out of the kitchen into the hall and up the stairs to his bedroom. Once inside he slammed the door and locked it before throwing himself full length onto his bed, and sobbed and sobbed.

Back down in the kitchen his mother stood up and picked up the chair saying to her husband.

'Charles I knew he wouldn't like it, but he's going to have to accept the fact that he's going'

'Yes, and I just hope that they will take him,and that he will get plenty of discipline. I had better get off, I will leave you to sort him out. I have a busy day.See you later, bye'

The Colonel took his tunic jacket off the back of his chair, put it on and picket up his cap and went out of the kitchen door into the garden, and got into his car that was parked in the drive. He started the car and drove down the long drive before turning into the main road to head off to his headquarters.

 

The following Monday the Colonel,Agnes and Johnny arrived at Harrington Hall College, which was a large Georgian mansion set in amongst the Norfolk countryside. They were greeted by the headmaster, a Doctor Ivan Spindler,who was a tall slim man with grey tightly brushed back short hair and grey eyes. He wore a dark grey suit over which he wore an academic gown complete with the fur trimmings to show that he had a doctorite.

The doctor ushered them into his study where they sat in a semi circle in front of his desk, while he sat on the other side of the desk. On top of the desk there was a pile of pupils books stacked on one side, and on the other side there was an assorted pile of text books,each had paper markers throughout their pages. The doctor looked across his desk at Johnny and asked.

'Tell me young man what are your favourite school subjects?'.

Johnny coughed and looking at the doctor replied.

'Well sir, I enjoy history,geography,art,and reading books'

'I see and what books have you read?'.

'Iv'e read Wind in the Willows, Treasure Island, and most of the Secret Seven and Famous Five books. Oh and I like the Rupert Bear annuals which I get a new one of each year. Sir'

'I see so have you not read any of Charles Dickens books, or any of the American writer Mark Twains books?'.

'No sir who are they?'.

The Colonel looked at the doctor raising his eyebrows and said.

'He does know some of Dickens and the Mark Twain books. His mother has read Oliver Twist to him and Great Expectations, as well as Huckleberry Finn'

'Oh yes, that's right you have mum, you read to me at night before I go to sleep'

'Very good, well you will have an opportunity to read all of Dickens works, along with Thomas Hardy, Shakespeare and many other famous authors if you join the College. Have you studied any Latin yet?'

'No sir, but I know some Arabic words. Well my dad says they are Arabic sir'

'Quite, now I assume that you have learnt all your times tables?'.

'Oh yes sir, dad has made sure that I have learnt them, he wrote them all out on a board for me to learn. When he gets home he tests me on them. If I get any wrong he boxes my ears, don't you dad'

'I see well it's good to see that your getting discipline'

The doctor looked at the Colonel and said.

'I understand from your letter Colonel that you want Johnny to eventually attend Sandhurst, so that he too can follow a career as an officer in the Army'

'Yes that's correct, we want him to in that direction. Hopefully he will become a good officer and leader of men, after all that's what the country needs, good leaders. He learnt to drill at the age of four don't you know. Oh yes I taught him to march in step, turn on the march, stand to attention, stand at ease, to salute both with his hand and with a rifle. Not that he can hold a real rifle yet, but he has a toy one for now. He can also salute with a sword, he has a toy one of those too'. 

'Very good, so what Regiment do you aspire to join Johnny?'.

'I want to join the Guards or horse guards. I can ride and groom a horse. The Major near where we used to live had a ridding stables, and he taught to ride and groom his horses when I was five sir'

'I see , well you will need to be both academic and good at sports. Are you good at sports?'.

'I like the Gym because I'm good at climbing the ropes and wall bars. I like the game shipwreck in the gym sir'

' If you attend this college you will get to use the gym, you will play football, cricket and Rugby. All the boys go on a cross country run every morning, all year round. It's a good run,through the woods and back lanes around the college'.

'That's good to hear, plenty of sport to build him up eh doctor' responded the Colonel.

'Academically we set high standards in all subjects. As you know he will need to be good at both maths and science if he is to get into Sandhurst. Now I have prepared a small test for both his maths and english, which I would like him to do. So lets not delay, now Johnny follow me please, you can sit in the next door room so you won't be disturbed. While your working on the test I can continue to talk with your parents'

'Very good sir' replied Johnny standing up.

The doctor got up and walked across the study followed by Johnny.He opened a door and led him into a small book lined room and pointed to a small desk saying.

'Now sit you down there Johnny. On the desk you will observe that there are two short test papers, one is for maths and one is for english. There's some writting paper for you to write your answers on. Use the dip pen and ink on the desk, you will see that Iv'e left some plotting paper as well as a ruler for you to use. Don't forget to underline where needed. Now I will be back in three quarters of an hour, by which time you should have finished both tests'

Johnny sat down at the desk and began to read through the test papers. The doctor turned and went out of the room back into his study, closing the door behind him. Having sat down at his desk he looked at the Colonel and Agnes and asked.

'Do you consider him to be a bright and keen to learn, because as I said we set high standards here?'.

The Colonel looked at Agnes then turning back to the doctor said.

'If we are to be honest then no he is not very bright. He can be quiet lazy and argumentative. His mother and I have been very strict with him. He has had many a good hiding I can tell you'.

'Discipline here is also very strict, we do not tolerate lazyness, nor do we tolerate boys answering back to the teachers. If a boy is troublesome then we have no choice but to cane him, it's as simple as that. If the boy persists then we have to expel him. I hope you understand'.

'Yes I understand perfectly. If you find he is not co-operating then by all means discipline him. We both decided from the day that he was born that he should follow in my footsteps and go into the Army as an officer. Churchill did it and look at what a great statesman he has turned out to be,so there is hope yet'.

'True, well ok let's give him a chance. Now you know from my letter what the termly fees are. I trust there are no problems with that?'.

'No none at all.Do you have a list of the things that we will need to get for him,school uniform ectera?'.

'Yes, here we are,it's a long list but he will need everything on the list'

The doctor picked up a leaflet off his desk and passed it across to the Colonel saying.

'You will notice that all the juniors up until they reach the age of twelve are expected to wear blue overalls over their uniform, it helps to protect and keep clean their uniform.They wont be expected to wear their overalls when attending Sunday church services or when they go into town on a Saturday. They will wear their caps and blazers then.Inside the college they are expected to wear leather slippers, and will change into their lace up black shoes when going outside. They have one bath a week, and they will have their hair cut every two weeks, a local barber comes to the college to cut hair. In the dormitories each boy has his own wooden wash stand, with a plastic bowl for washing. They each have a large jug to fetch water to wash with from the bathroom. We supply them with a large bar of soap. Each boy is responsible for keeping his wash area clean and tidy. They are expected to make their own beds every morning. Matron supervises that. She is an ex hospital matron who stands no nonsense from the boys. Do you have any questions that you care to ask?'.

'Is he allowed pocket money so that when he goes into town he can buy some sweets?'. asked Agnes.

'He is allowed pocket money which he can draw from the college bursar on a Saturday morning before going into town. How much you allow him to have is up to you. It will be added to the end of term fees. As for buying sweets, we do not allow the boys to have sweets. They can buy fresh fruit as well as jam which they can use at tea times. You can send him a cake or cakes and biscuits which again he can have at tea times. All of those items are to be kept in his tuck box, he collects them before tea time, and returns them after tea. Any other questions?'.

' Will he be allowed to bring his Teddybear?'. asked Agnes.

'Certainly not.We do not allow pupils to bring toys or comics into the college. The senior boys are allowed to purchase a national daily newspaper as well as educational magazines. As a junior your son will be assigned to one of the college prefects, who have their own rooms. He will be expected to clean the room and shoes of the prefect that he is assigned too. He will also be expected to run errands and cook crumpits for the prefect. In the winter months he will need to clean out the fireplace and remake the fire in the prefects room. Similar to the duties of a batman eh Colonel. I should add that all the classrooms have open coal fires, but they are attended to by one of the caretakers. The dormitories have radiators for heating. Each evening after tea the boys return to their classrooms to complete their homework, the prefects are responsible for sitting in  

and supervising the boys whilst they complete their homework. On a Saturday before going into town the boys again return to their classrooms to write letters home, the prefects again sit in and supervise the boys. The boys are also accompanied into town by a prefect'.

'Well that seems to be fine, it's good that he will learn to take responsibility. it's about time he started too' responded the Colonel.

'Exactly the boys are here to study and take responsibility, it helps them for their future endevours. Now let's see how he has performed in his tests' replied the doctor as he got up and walked over to the door to the ajoining room, and opening the door he put his head round and said to Johnny.

'Right Johnny stop what your doing and bring the test papers in here for me to look at'

Johnny looked up and said.

'Right away sir'

Johnny put the pen down and wiped the ink off his fingures with his handkerchief before picking up the papers and going into the study, where having passed the papers to the doctor he sat down between his mother and father.

The doctor read through the test papers and marked them in green ink from his fountain pen. Then he looked up at Johnny and said.

'Well it would appear that your spelling is quiet good. You have a good grasp of comprehension, however your penmanship needs improving, it looks as if a spider has crawled across the paper. Your maths paper is not bad I can see that you can carry out the basic tasks of addition,subtraction,division,multiplication. However it's clear that you do not understand basic algebra or geometry.Never mind we will teach you those skills. So Johnny I have agreed with your parents to accept you into the college. You will start next term. Now let me take you and show you round the college'.

Everyone stood up and followed the doctor out of the study as he led them around the college, showing them the different classrooms, dinning room,common rooms,dormitory where Johnny would sleep, the gym, music room,library and finally into the large entrance foyer where on the different wallls there were stone plaques. One plaque showed, the names of previous headmasters going back to Queen Victoria. There were two plaques that showed the names of previous pupils who had been killed in both WW1 and WW2. Another plaque showed the names of previous pupils who had become outstanding in their chosen careers, they included, Doctors, businessmen,academics,politicions and members of the armed forces. The Colonel looking at the plaque of those who had been killed in WW2 said.

'I recognise the names of two of those lads. Both Jenkins and Simson were in my regiment. I did not know that they had been pupils here, they were fine officers and brave lads'

'Yes I taught them and most of those boys. Very sad that they should have been killed' reponded the doctor.

'I can see that there are some impressive peoples names on the plaque of outstanding performance. See Johnny you could have your name up there one day if you work hard' said the Colonel.

'That's true Johnny so you know what you need to do when you start here. Now if you will excuse me I am expecting to see some other possible newcommers presently. I look forward to greeting you on arrival next term. It's been a pleasure to meet you Colonel and Mrs Miller, and you too Johnny'

'Likewise and thank you for agreeing to take Johnny into your fine college. We lookforward to seeing you next term.Goodbye' responded the Colonel.

They all shook hands with the doctor and he opened the large front door and let them out into the front of the college where the Colonel had parked his car. As they walked to the car Agnes turned to Johnny and said.

'Your very lucky to have been given an opportunity to attend this fine establishment,so you will need to knuckle down and work hard'

'I told you I don't want to go to no boarding school. He's horrible and the thought of not having my own bedroom yuck'

'Stop that talk right now, your going there and thats it, you will just have to get used to the idea. After all your fathers having to spend a lot of money for you to go there'

'I never asked him to spend money for me to go there. I'm happy at the school I'm at'

'Shut up and get in the car now you ungrateful little bugger, and look at the state of your hands, all covered in ink. God knows what the doctor thought of you' said the Colonel as he pushed Johnny into the back seat of his car.

'

 

 

 

 

 

Author's Note

I would like to hear peoples comments on this extract,and welcome discussion from people who have experienced the same things as Johnny.

Reviews

[Gregory]

hmmm. i like the set up. i dont know where exactly you are going with this, whether it be a large scale novel or something short, but it seems like you are missing lots of crucial detail. love it though. and thanks for the review, mate. cheers.

[AK]

Nice!

[mark slade]

cool story. i really like the characters and the way the plot moves along.