The International school for boy's.
Firstly let me introduce myself my name is Steven Sears, 14 years old, reasonably tall, skinny with blondish wavy hair and many of my friends and family think I'm cute looking. This story starts when I was 11 and getting ready to go to senior school, something that is both exciting but most dread as you start those new school years from the bottom in year 1. Having got a place in our local school at least I would be going with my friends from junior school. However before I started my new school I became extremely ill after a wonderful holiday in Africa and ended up in hospital in a coma and my Father fearful that I would never recover. My parents had divorced some years earlier and I was happily living with my Father. Eventually the doctors worked a miracle and over the months and years made a full recovery but this meant I had missed the best part of 3 years schooling even though my Father had got me some tutors who came to our home to try and teach me some of the schooling I had missed. So this brings us back to today now fourteen and having missed the really important early years at senior school.
My Father was very loving and very keen to do the best for me and my future. He was part of a special international merchant banking group and travelled extensively. Due to the amount of travel he and many others were expected to do a special school had been formed some years before to cater for sons education based on a British dependent Island where the school could provide a very safe environment, offer excellent sport facilities, first class academic teaching and being a boarding school provide a strict rules based community school
My Father despite my protestations had made his mind up that this was the best school for me based on my missed schooling and his ability to look after me due to his work and travel. So decision made I was sent a test paper to complete to allow the school to assess my current knowledge with a view to placing me in the best class to suit my current ability.
So here we are travelling to my new school, my Father telling me how wonderful it will be and how much I will love it once I get used to being away from home. We had to take a ferry over to the island where the school had been built, which I guess made it impossible to leave without a boat and in my mind rather prison like. On arrival we were taken by a buggy to the school entrance and then a very smart schoolboy in full uniform escorted us to the headmaster's office and we were invited in and we sat down ready for a discussion on my admission to this school or institution as it seemed to me. Immediately the headmaster informed me that in future, as a mark in of respect, I should only sit after the adults and when instructed to do so. A demerit would in future be awarded should this simple rule not be followed,more on the demerit system later.
Sitting now next to my Father, the headmaster then started to inform me about the school, "we run a unique school here and the very strict school rules are maintained not by the teachers but by the boys themselves with a hierarchy system and monitors from the school year above".How this operates will be explained to me shortly when my monitor shows me around and takes me to my new home for the coming months and years. The headmaster then informed me that my test paper had been marked and reviewed and after a discussion with my Father it had been agreed that due to my limited knowledge due to my missed schooling I should enter the school in year 1. This was a bit of a shock for me but I kind of understood the decision without quite realising what the implications were in this unique school. However the headmaster reminded us that this school achieved fantastic results with most boys going on to top universities.
The headmaster then via his secretary, asked for my monitor to be sent up to meet us and to start my induction into the school. He arrived, knocked on the door and awaited instruction to enter. On entry the headmaster then informed us that the boy was called Williams and he would be my monitor for the term. He explained that the school had 4 houses and each year has a dormitory for 12 boys. So in each year the school had places for 48 boys. I had been appointed to a house called Wilberforce. The headmaster then explained to us that the school runs really effectively by boys from the above year monitoring the boys from the year below. The monitors helped boys in the year below by being very supportive, a shoulder to cry on, a person to talk to about school life and work but they also manage the individuals demerit system and would ensure any required correction was carried out in the traditional manner in this school.
So the headmaster asked Williams to show me around, take me to my dormitory and get me kitted out with the school uniform then return me to the office to say good bye to my Father.
Once we had left the headmasters office Williams started my induction. Firstly he informed me how the school operates. Boys from the year above are appointed as a monitor and are instructed to support a boy in the year below. You have been placed in year 1 and this is your learning year and it's my job to help you settle in to the school as I am in year 2, I will help you with the strict rules that all boys follow, see that your up in the morning, ensure your bed is made correctly, that your clean and dress correctly in uniform, help you meet the goals of the school covering academic lessons, sports and recreation.It's also my job to provide you with any necessary correction which if you don't follow the rules precisely could be a regular occurrence and painful but remember it's to help you better yourself and make you a good student in our school. I could hardly believe what I was hearing, this boy Williams who was 2 years younger than me was about to rule my life, controlling what I do and when and that it's his job to correct me and that it's for my own good! I hate this place so much already.
Our first visit is to see matron Williams informed me. We knock and enter matrons room, Williams informs her that this is Sears who is joining the school today. Most boys in year 1 had joined in September but I was joining in January. So Sears welcome to our school I'm sure you will be happy once you settle in matron informed me. First I need the school doctor to give you a quick check over so please remove all your clothing ready for our doctor. I will get Williams to pack your current clothes and you can return these to your Father to take home as they won't be needed in school. All necessary clothing is provided in the school and included in the fees paid by your Father. As I removed my clothes I felt pretty embarrassed in front of this lady and my monitor who then told me to hurry up. Once naked the doctor entered and ran numerous checks on me and declared me fit and healthy. Matron then informed me a hair cut was needed and I was instructed to sit in the chair still naked. A young man enters and tells me he is the school hairdresser, puts a clock around me, then I hear the buzz of clippers. I have lovely wavy blondish hair that I so love, then I feel the clippers running up the back of my head and I see my lovely hair dropping to the floor and a tear forms in my eye. 5 minutes later the short back and sides given to all boys in the school is complete, I look across in the mirror and it's made me look like a younger boy again. Matron then tells me to quickly shower in the adjacent bathroom,wash your hair then dry yourself ready for your new school uniform. As I shower I feel all my rights have been taken anyway, god I hate this school.
Matron quickly reminds me to speed up and I return to her for fitting of my new uniform. She measures me and starts selecting the items. Everything is new, white y front pants, long socks, grey shorts, white t shirt, white shirt, school tie, grey jumper, smart school blazer and finally a ridiculous school cap and to complete the uniform some polished black shoes. It all seems to fit but I look really stupid and I hate the uniform. I then get kitted out with various sports kits and what matron calls free time clothes, short socks, grey shorts and a sweat shirt with the school name on and a polo shirt for warmer days. I get numerous sets of clothing and Williams then pipes up again giving me a school rule book which he suggests I learn off by heart as everything I need know is covered in the book. Before we leave he informs me how I should dress around the school. In class you do not need to wear the blazer but in all other areas you will wear it, if you forget a demerit will be awarded each time your seen without it. Your cap must be worn anytime you leave the building, each year has its own colour so your seniors and teachers will know which year you belong. So don't forget the moment you go outside going from the various school blocks the cap must be worn. Demerits awarded for any failure to wear it. More stupid rules for me to remember.
Williams now informs me that we will go to the dormitory where my bed and living area awaits. We enter house Wilberforce and enter year 1 dormitory my home for the future. Williams escorts me to the one vacant bed. It has a row of open shelves where I'm told to place each set of uniform, sports kit and free time clothes. Williams sees I'm really down about my predicament, look he says, we all started the same way. The shock of leaving home, the strict rules, hard school work and I know it must be more difficult being 14 and starting this school in year 1. It's the worst year in a school when everything is new and you get used to how them school runs, new school friends, strange food and the discipline will be hard to accept at first but trust me you will get used to it. I'm here to help you just like my monitor in year 3 who helps and guides me. We all started where you are today and I will get you through this difficult time. Now I will teach you how the dormitory operates. At 7am the bell will sound, you will make your bed as I will show you now. You must learn this as I will inspect your bed every morning and award a demerit if it's not done correctly. Place your pyjamas neatly under your pillow then line up naked with the other boys in your year. A monitor will then come and supervise your shower, enter the shower area in a circle and you will then take soap and fully wash the boy next to you, this is to ensure all parts of you are fully cleaned. Then exit the shower area and dry off the boy next to you until dry. Then when told to do so by the monitor return to your bed and dress in your uniform as instructed. As your monitor I will come and check that you have dressed correctly, tied your tie correctly and that your shoes are polished. Then it's breakfast time with your fellow boys, the canteen is next to our building and you will sit on the table for all year 1 boys. I will be keeping an eye on you so suggest excellent behaviour but enjoy your breakfast with your fellow year 1 students.
Now before we go back to the headmasters and to say good bye to your Father I have to inform you how we maintain discipline in the school. For many years now the school has operated without the need of teachers or headmaster disciplining any of the students. It runs by boys in each year looking after boys in the year below. So my job is to make sure you follow the rules, do your school work and act as your mentor including discipline. This is the same as my monitor who is in year 3 who helps and guides me and when necessary disciplines me in the same way as I will discipline you. At the end of the dormitory is a chart and record of each boy, you have been added to the chart. It is a system that shows and records your behaviour and indicates how many demerits you have been awarded. It's a system that increases in severity based on your behaviour. Currently your name has no demerit marks but you can see other boys on the list have one, two or three marks. When or should you get to three marks correction follows in the early evening. It's carried out in the dormitory and administered in front of the other students. The chart is a traffic light system, 3 demerits results in the first level of punishment, the next 3 takes you to level 2 then 3 more takes you to level 3. If poor behaviour continues I have to invite my own monitor to come and deal with you using different techniques and implements. If that happens I also get punished as I have failed to monitor you correctly so I will be doing my best to make sure this does not happen. So please understand that if correction is necessary I have to perform my duty in an effort to help you follow the rules as required by all of us in this school. So if you see your name with 3 demerits you will be on punishment parade in the dormitory that evening. After prep when you return to your dormitory and before dinner, you will receive correction. Humiliation is a very important part of correction, at 5.30 you are required to strip and stand naked on the yellow line in front of the demerit chart with your hands on your head. This allows all the other boys in your year to see that your behaviour is not up to standard and you will shortly be corrected, reminding each one of them what happens to a boy not following the rules.
As I listen to Williams explain these rules I really can't believe what is happening to me, I'm 14 and I've never been punished or humiliated in such a way. My so called monitor who is going to mentor me through the term is just 12, he is short with dark hair, also with short back and sides haircut. This boy with a baby face is now telling me he will be checking everything I do and will issue demerits that will ultimately end up with me naked awaiting discipline. I must talk to Dad before he leaves as I hate it here already and I hope he will take me home.
"Sears " I hear Williams shout, we need to get you back to the headmasters office to say good bye, take your old clothes and give them to your Father. We enter the office and I have tears in my eyes and I plead with Dad to take me home, but Dad says my haircut looks good as does the school uniform. The headmaster informs my Father that tears and wanting to go home is quite normal behaviour and once settled in I will be much happier. But I hate the place, the rules, the uniform and this system that leads to some kind of punishment yet defined but with me being naked in front of boys 3 years younger than me. I so want to go home as my father hugs me, takes my clothes bag, tears run down my face as Williams tells me to follow him as I leave my former happy life behind me.
My new school life is about to start and I'm scared and frightened on how I'm going to get through the next few hours let alone the days and weeks ahead. My first day in this institution is about to start and will be covered in Part 2 if there is interest?