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“YOU’RE PROBABLY THE wrong person to ask whether there’s a staff dress code, but I’ll ask you anyway.”
More at ease with Joe in his sports kit than with the elegant Oriana, I wished I’d taken more notice of what the other teachers had been wearing. I wanted to make a good first impression on my pupils.
As we strolled out of the classroom quad, Joe cast a glance at my tailored trousers and blouse.
“You look fine to me. Sorry, I forget how much easier it is for me than for the rest of the staff. My role and my timetable define my outfit down to the last detail. Mind you, I wouldn’t mind being a science teacher. Dr Fleming can wear anything at all beneath the statutory lab coat. Or indeed nothing at all. That must be liberating.”
I wondered whether he’d discovered that at first hand.
“So I won’t be out of place if I’m not dressed up in smart skirts and high heels like Oriana?”
“Not at all. She won’t be like that tomorrow anyway, not once all the rich dads are off the scene. That’s just her recruiting outfit.”
“I didn’t know she was involved in staff recruitment. She didn’t interview me.”
“Recruiting for a husband, I mean. A rich widower to whisk her away from all this. But don’t worry, there’s no unbreakable dress code. Just don’t wear anything that would frighten the horses in the streets or shock any visiting grandmothers.”
I gazed across the immaculate terraced lawns to the grazing pastures beyond. “There are a lot of horses round here, aren’t there? Though not many streets.”
“Nor many grandmothers. Or people in general. For the girls’ parents, the remote rural location is a big part of the school’s charm, especially for those whose daughters are at significant risk of kidnap.”
I stopped and stared at him. “Really? We’ve got pupils who might get kidnapped?”
He nodded and walked on, and I ran a couple of steps to catch up. “Oh yes, that’s why we’ve got Max. We’ve plenty of millionaires’ daughters – heiresses to household brand names or large property portfolios. Some girls have titles. Not that we use those in school, of course.”
“Why, is it run on republican principles?”
“Oh no. The Headmistress loves a good royal. In the presence of a title, she’s got an infallible curtsey reflex. She just doesn’t want the untitled girls sucking up to the titled ones, assuming they’re loaded. Often they’re skint. Well, relatively, anyway. Not many of our pupils are what you’d call poor.”
“Really? I’d heard that at the best boarding schools, there’s a real social mix – not just rich kids, but children with working-class parents who scrimp and save and work extra jobs to give them all the advantages of a private education. Smarter facilities, smaller classes, better exam results –”
“Better teachers. Like you and me.” That mischievous smile again.
I feigned humility, or rather, I feigned the need to feign humility. Meanwhile I was beginning to realise how irresponsible I’d been to take this job. With my lack of teaching experience since I completed my training, I might singlehandedly trigger a downward trajectory in the school’s English exam results the following summer.
I was glad when Joe went off at a different tangent.
“It’s not like that at St Bride’s. Miss Harnett’s too thoughtful to let any family near-bankrupt themselves to pay our school fees. Instead she lets a few in for free on the sly, only breaking it to the Bursar afterwards once the deal is signed and sealed. It’s good to have them on board, despite the strain they put on the school’s budget. They’re a good counterbalance to the TFBs who are just biding their time till they get their financial independence.”
“TFBs?”
“Trust Fund Brigade. But don’t get too hung up about the politics. For the staff it’s a good life once you get into the swing of it, and the girls are happy enough. We take good care of them, and in the scheme of things, their parents get good value for money. So just relax and enjoy the ride.”
Taking me firmly by the hand, he led me off the gravel path and into a tangle of waist-high weeds down a steeply sloping bank. As he trampled down nettles and brambles to clear the way for me without a thought for his bare calves, we were soon out of sight of the school building.
