Outside the Classroom

Abstract

One morning when sitting in a dark corner of Marina’s room in an attempt to get over a headache, I was approached by a colleague with something on her mind It was not the best time for a discussion, but it turned out to be an interesting one. What was the view in Britain, Natasha wanted to know, about out-of-school activities? It had been impressed upon her in training that a good schoolmistress should become involved in the hobbies, interests and leisure-time development of the children, but at School 1937 there were not very many opportunities for such activities in direct connection with the school. The pupils, she said, tended to go elsewhere to find scope for their out-of-school interests. This she could understand, but it did little to sustain any esprit de corps within the school. My colleague regretted the relative lack of opportunity for pupils and teachers in this school to get to know each other through sporting, cultural and recreational pursuits.