The Head Girl Of The Chalet School

Elinor M. Brent-Dyer was born Gladys Eleanor May Dyer on April 6, 1894 in South Shields, in the northeast of England. She wrote over a hundred books of children’s literature during her life. From lower middle-class roots, she went to a small private school and became a teacher after attending the City of Leeds Training College. As a teacher, she worked at both public and private schools, and even as a governess. She had an interest in the theater, and her first book Gerry Goes to School (the first in her La Rochelle series) was written in 1922 --for the child actress Hazel Bainbridge. About this time, inspired by a vacation to the Austrian Alps, she wrote The School at the Chalet in 1923 (the first in her Chalet School series). Brent-Dyer continued to teach and tried rather unsuccessfully to run her own school from 1938 to 1948. After this, she quit teaching but continued writing until her death on September 20, 1969 in Redhill, Surrey.

Inspired by a vacation to the Austrian Alps, Elinor M. Brent-Dyer wrote The School at the Chalet, launching a series that would span more than 60 books. The series follows the adventures of a boarding school set in the picturesque Swiss Alps. The series begins with The School at the Chalet (1925), where readers are introduced to Miss Madge Bettany, a young woman who decides to start a school for girls in the Swiss mountains. The series then chronicles the growth and evolution of the school, as well as the trials and triumphs of its students.

"It is the Chalet School's second term at Plas Howell, and Robin, aged 16, is Head Girl. She worries how she will measure up to all the Head Girls who have gone before. But she doesn't have too much opportunity to worry, being flung into the hurly-burly of life at school, with naughty Juniors, troubled Seniors and unruly Middles. And then life is made all the more complicated when Joey's youngest daughter, Margot, becomes dangerously ill."--Publisher's advertisment.

From its small beginnings, the Chalet School grows to be one of the most famous girls' schools in the world. There's no end of excitement and adventure and it's every girl's dream to be a pupil there. The winter term is a week old when Inter V propose a scheme for the school's anniversary.