Girls' boarding schools in the 1900's-30's

[elevator_child]

I'm writing a story set at a girl's school in a made-up country that shares similarities with both England and Canada. The time period is similar to the early 1900's to 1930's, although info from as late as the 50's would still be helpful

Comments

[sollersuk]

If it has a religious background, try "convent school".

You might also get useful info if you investigate school stories of the date; try Googling that term.

For starters, they would sleep in a dormitory room with something like a minimum of five others and only be allowed to leave school grounds in very limited circumstances; in the 1990s at my daughter's school, for example, they could not leave the grounds alone and had to request permission first. They would also need permission to leave the grounds with an adult family member.

An important part of school life would be (field) hockey or lacrosse, depending on which the school played; this is where the "gym slip" (Google that too) first came into its own before becoming standard wear for schoolgirls.

[pea_queue]

Have you read any enid blyton books from the St Clares or Mallory Towers series? That'd be around the right period and although they're not amazing books or accurate historical record it's probably the idea most readers would have in their heads about life in that environment at that time. They're supposed to be semi-auto biographical and if nothing else they'd give you a feeling for daily routine and language use.

[foreign_xchange]

I was going to suggest exactly this. I went to boarding school from 1996-2004 so I'm not sure how much my experiences would be useful; however

[foreign_xchange]

oh, and at both school we had one hour of sport 6 days a week, as we had Saturday school until lunchtime. in the winter term hockey was the girls sport, and rugby the boys. in the easter term, netball was the girls sport and hockey the boys. in summer it was tennis for both. there were other options but those were the main ones - there was also a lot of rowers at my secondary school.
it's extremely likely that your school would be set up in an old manor house like my schools, so here are the websites:

www.portregis.com - my prepatory school (1996-1999)
www.canford.com - my secondary school (1999-2004)

they look a bit Harry-Potter-esque, but that will hopefully help you to get the atmosphere and style of the buildings/layout.

[fjm]

Dormitories the norm (the curtain created cubicles at the Chalet School were unusual enough for comment).

They simply wouldn't have been able to leave the grounds without supervision. None of the "going into the village for a tuck shop" that you see in the boys' books. Older girls might have had the privilege of a group trip on a Saturday but it is likely a mistress would go with them.

Keep in mind limited clothing: usually two tunics, two shirts, and one dress (plus underwear) and sports kit. Not a lot of storage space needed.

[fjm]

Limited clothing? Thats interesting. I thought the old girls boarding schools were renowned for having a heck of a lot of kit and clothes and general gear.

[fjm]

Lots of kit: tennis kit, gym kit, hockey kit; but little of what we would think of as clothing ie probably one walking suit and one evening dress, for a *whole term*, and two of everything of uniform.

[versipellis]

"Giggling in the Buddleia" by Arthur Marshall is a collection of anecdotes and memories from women who went to boarding schools from the 20s to 50s or so. If you can get hold of a copy, you'd probably find it helpful.

[janewilliams20]

I'd agree that reading Enid Blyton would be a good start, and I'd like to add Charlotte Sometimes This shows the same school in 1918 and 1963, and the differences between the two dates.