Hogwarts School of Wizardry, I Wish!

Inspired by Leigh Ward-Smith’s entertaining post Six-Word Stories: On School, I’m going to share with you twenty-one six-word memories of the girls-only boarding school I attended. Why twenty-one? Because that’s my age … hah, hah, I wish. You won’t see me cross my heart and hope to die on that score.

All girls school torture for tomboys.

School tuck box. Lemon sherbets. Toffees.

Not on diet. Pudding third helpings.

Playing vinyl records on portable player.

Terror of lacrosse and hockey sticks.

Sadistic sports teachers with hairy legs.

Sent out of chapel for giggling.

Bogey up French teacher’s nose distracts.

English teacher sings Joan Baez songs.

Art class. Life drawing resembles Queen.

Swearing. Mouth washed out with soap.

Performance nerves. Messes up school concert.

Headache, tears of frustration over algebra.

Slide rules. No calculators. Mental arithmetic.

Writing science fiction instead of studying.

Midnight. Reading banned books by torchlight.

Talking after lights out. Nocturnal detention.

Chicken pox. Mock O-levels in bed.

Blank paper in exams. Time up.

School Prize Day. Nothing for me.

Wishing too late, I’d worked harder.

Previous posts related to school:

School, serpents and sin

A tribute to Roald Dahl: bad school reports versus literary genius

 

Author: Sarah Potter Writes

Sarah is a British eccentric who writes offbeat fiction, haiku and tanka poetry. When stuck for words, she sketches or paints instead. She's into nature conservation, sustainability, gardening, dogs, natural health, and reading. Her sociability is something that happens in short bursts with long breathing spaces in between.

18 thoughts on “Hogwarts School of Wizardry, I Wish!”

      1. I didn’t, but then I found an alternative means of exit sooo LOL it worked for me.

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      2. Ditto! My alternative means happened at the age of fifteen-and-a-half. But I went on to study later and miraculously turned from a D-grade student into an A-grade one because I could focus on subjects that interested me.

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  4. Nothing as romantic as Hogwarts then! Boarding school was one of those things us kids who didn’t go thought was quite romantic – and I suppose that viewpoint has been renewed with Harry Potter.

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    1. As a tomboy, I might have felt a bit happier in a mixed boarding school.

      My Latin teacher in my middle school was a female version of Professor Snape. For some reason, I really liked her even though she wasn’t averse to hitting naughty children’s knuckles with rulers and throwing the blackboard rubber across the room at them.

      In her class, I had to concentrate and always hand my homework in on time.

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    1. Thanks, Jean. Glad you enjoyed my list.

      re mental arithmetic — I often wonder what chaos would ensue if people under a certain age suddenly had to depend upon their heads for simple arithmetic. I might not have got my head around algebra, but I was top of the class at primary school with my times tables and mental arithmetic.

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      1. Can’t even begin to imagine the chaos. Interesting though how quick kids are at adding and subtracting when it comes to pocket money and stuff!

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  6. It might not have been Hogwart’s, but it was a fascinating slice of life with one aspect that, I daresay, many in the U.S. can’t identify completely with (the boarding school aspect), but then there are those universal experiences of feeling like you don’t fit in, favorite/hated subjects, PE/sports teachers, regrets, punishments, and so on. Loved these, Sarah; thanks for sharing (and linking to me).

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    1. Also, there’s the historical element as I’m writing about boarding school from decades ago, so that anyone younger than me from the U.S. will probably find it even harder to identify with.

      And a question for you? Do you think that my sci-fi novel I mentioned to you the other day would fascinate or totally mystify readers from across the pond, as it’s set in a girl’s English boarding school in the 60s? Just assessing my potential audience.

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      1. My opinion is that while some cultural differences (for lack of a better phrase) will perplex some American readers, there’s enough inherent likeness to get and keep a readership. Plus, there are those of us who like to learn as we read. Oh, and with the global society today, Americans are exposed to so many British things that it’s sort of a thread of our pop culture, too, now, from James Bond and The Beatles through Doctor Who and Monty Python (not to mention Pink Floyd, esp. The Wall) up on through Mr. Bean, Harry Potter, and so on. And all those have gone gangbusters in American culture, so I personally would market it across the pond, too. My 2 cents’. Thanks for asking!

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      2. Now I’m going to make you jealous — I actually saw Pink Floyd literally building a wall on stage as part of a live performance. I also went to one of the first screenings of The Beatles’ film “Yellow submarine”. As for Doctor Who and Monty Python — with both of those shows, I saw the screening of the first episodes ever on British telly. At the moment, they’re re-showing every James Bond movie in order. I love them, especially his dry sense of humour. And, of course, I’ve read all the Harry Potter novels.

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