Punctuality and Receipts

Being late was not acceptable.

For example, at the château if you were late getting down for breakfast, or lunch or supper, you just couldn’t walk into the dining room. All the children had to line up outside in the playground and wait for the teacher on duty to let them in. Once the children were let in, the fire exit door was closed again. Late children had to line up outside, look through the windows and hope the teacher let you in quickly.

I remember one time two boys being late for breakfast.

“Why are you late?”

“Putting gel on my hair.”

The other nodded in agreement.

“Well, after breakfast help Claudine sweep the floor.”

Staff were almost never late. Some rose at six thirty, showered, dressed and went to the staff room or terrace and made coffee or tea before staring at the wonderful view to the sea. Others left it until much later and only just made it in time for breakfast which in good weather was on the terrace. Missing that meal was very rare but if it happened then a lot of banter would follow.

Being late back from trips and having no receipts had consequences. So, for example, each year, towards the end of the trip, the children would be taken to a hypermarket on the outskirts of Morlaix. Great emphasis was put on them being in their groups. Again, great emphasis was put on being back on time and keeping all receipts.

A few times, children would buy items, come out and then decide a little later to go back in with the items already bought but without their receipts. Over the years I’d heard many excuses: they hadn’t collected them, they had thrown them away or they didn’t know where they were. I had had to grovel on a few occasions with security staff who said they had caught these English schoolchildren stealing from the store.

“They have not paid for these items. They have no receipts!”

The hypermarket was a great temptation for young children, so it was no surprise one year when four boys and three girls were late returning to the coach. All were mortified when they were told to apologise to Nicole, the resident boss at the château, for being responsible for all of us being late back for lunch.

Nicole, of course, when we arrived back shrugged her shoulders and said in French, “What’s all the fuss about?” I was trying to teach the children to be punctual. The non-teacher was not.

Other forfeits or punishments for various crimes included tidying the classroom, sitting on one of the benches at the front of the château when there was free time, sweeping the dining room, or laying the plates on the table for the next meal.

A more serious punishment for persistent noise after lights out in the dormitory, for example, was to move the offender into a single room for the night. This rarely happened because clever children realised that if they whispered they couldn’t be heard by the staff in the staff room. Misdemeanours aside, the vast majority of children conformed to the rules set. Good behaviour was expected, demanded and, for the most part, exceeded expectations. The vast majority of the children were a great credit to their parents.