Trafalgar School - Echoes Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

Page 26 text:

THE FRENCH LYCEE OF LONDON I DO not think you can imagine anything more democratic, more international, more liberal and more interesting than a French Lycee in a foreign land and especially in London which is the largest city in the world. The history of this London Lycee is very simple. It was founded for Belgian refugees during the last Great War; then, after 1918, it moved to a big old building opposite the Victoria and Albert museum. A few years ago it was officially opened a few blocks down by our President Albert Lebrun. Now it has been evacuated to Cambridge because of the war. Do not think that one learns there the manners of court or delicate arts. Oh no! It is a place where one is taught to work and to associate with all kinds of people, boys and girls of every age, of every nationality, of every class and of every creed. Our only link with one another is that we all want to be active and to be guided by cultured French people. It has two other characteristics. There are there the most active and ablest teachers I have ever met (and I have been to six schools) and there is a great lack of discipline and manners: if one wants to learn, one learns as much as one likes because their (the teachers ' ) knowledge seems unlimited; if one wants to discipline oneself one does. The only basic rule is that one does not bother one ' s fellow student and if this rule is broken there will be trouble at once. It may be discussed whether this is a good or bad system; I think it is good because when one comes out in the world one does not have a guardian angel to guide one. The numerous different characters of the school range from the young countess aged three to the butcher ' s son who is trying to pass his junior exam before becoming a grocer. Meanwhile you will find the very well mannered English boy with an Oxford accent who is a little shocked by the bad language of some rougher students, the very intelligent Russian girl who loves mathematics, the ruffian who want to learn boxing and nothing else and the Mohommedan Siamese children called all three by nearly the same name, Komut, Kamut, Kumut. I must explain why these children come to our school. It is because the English speaking world educates its children in a totally different way from the European continentals; we have higher scholastic standards; you have wider general knowledge and are more particular about social standards. Our program was as follows. We worked everyday, at school, from nine to one o ' clock in the morning and from two to four in the afternoon. Then we have about two and a half hours of studying left. And what studying! We have to rack our brains out, but once we have found whatever we are looking for, we could write it on our paper from the bottom right hand corner if we wanted to so long as it was worth writing. The competition between the boys and girls was something extraordinary; the boys were rough but the girls were softer and each side tried to prove to the other that [24]

Page 25 text:

CONTRAST The boat slid away from a country Apparently lifeless and black; She crept from the harbour unlighted And silently turned on her track. No-one knew she departed. Save those within her on board. No lights in the harbour or city Betrayed ought to the foe far abroad; Though no lights shone out brightly And no visible life could be seen Though all seemed dead and forgotten, A fire glows through shutter and screen, A fire that ' ll burn forever. Kindled with hatred and love. Far brighter, far fiercer than either The moon or the stars up above. The boat drew into a country After fifteen days on the sea. Where hundreds of others were harboured, Where they hooted and whistled so free. Lights shone far up the river. Millions and millions all round. Which glimmered and flickered and twinkled With scarce a black space to be found. With yelling and hooting and screaming. We drew into the dock at New York; Amid hustle and bustle and shouting. We got away from the dock to walk. Along full, busy, brightly lit streets. And sky-scrapers dotted with lights — Here no shutter, thick curtain or screen Hid that life that hummed gaily at nights. Shelagii Forbes, Form Vb, Ross House. [23]

Page 27 text:

it was more intelligent and infinitely better. We would have worked till midnight if we had been asked just to make a girl head of our form. In these wild but stimulating surroundings we learned to like work. Some did not, but it was because they did not want to and not even in the strictest school would they have done so. But most pupils have taken from the Lycee a desire to learn more in general or in some particular subject which will help them in going through these troubled times. And we have been filled with a longing to know more which we will always have and which will make us energetic men and women. Nicole J. Pleven, Form 5b, Fairley House. ST. LEONARDS IN a Scottish east-coast town bearing the name of our patron saint is to be found a well known British school. Partly surrounded by the ancient city wall, it lies among places of antiquity: by the castle where Archbishop Sharp was murdered and his head thrown out to the raging billows; by the old cathedral and St. Regulus Tower under which, legend tells us, lie the bones of Saint Andrew; and also of ancient vintage the Old Course . It is fitting that a school should stand within these ancient walls, for as an old university town, it has long been a seat of learning. While Trafalgar is essentially a day school St. Leonards is essentially a boarding school although it started its life in 1877 as a small day school. There are now nine separate boarding houses, or were before the war, and the day girls form the tenth house. St. Leonards also differs from Trafalgar in that the younger girls, that is girls under thirteen, are not educated at St. Leonards but at St. Catherines also in St. Andrews. St. Leonards has always been renowned for her prowess in games, having many internationals to her name, and every girl takes part in sports every afternoon in winter (including Saturdays) and every evening in summer. There is very great competition among the houses in the field and each day one house, organized under her house captain, takes the field in friendly rivalry. When it comes to matches however the shouts from the houses spurring on their teams would most certainly bring down the roof if played indoors, and as it is the birds are scared away and some reconnaissance bomber which may chance to pass hovers overhead to make sure the Jerrys have not come! The sports are lacrosse and golf in the autumn term, hockey and fives in the winter and cricket, tennis and swimming in the summer. The school shield is awarded each term to the victorious house in lacrosse, hockey and cricket. There is also a second team for each of these three games and cups are awarded to the winners. Lest my readers should now be thinking that they have at last found the school of their dreams where you enjoy a life of peaceful ease, I must assure you that we also have our Virgil and the invincible x and even the statement that whoever thinks the [25]