Shute School C.1965 1969

A Memory of Shute.

Shute was a very strict English boarding school, which we were told was once the home of Lady Jane Grey, who was Queen of England for nine days, at which time she was beheaded. The long standing rumor was that on a full moon, you could she the ghost of Lady Jane Grey walk up the hill, infront of the school at midnight, carrying her head. I looked a few times but never saw her!
Some rules and shenanigans were:
- Each semester we arrived at school with a trunk of our clothes. We had been sent a list of need/allowed items and this was strictly adhered to. When we arrived at the school the Matrons checked off what was in the trunk to what was on the list. They took what was not allowed.
- A dormitory was a room that had anywhere from 4 to 9 students sleeping in it. Your room assignment changed every semester. It was considered an honor to be "head" of the dorm. My last dorm had 9 students - myself and 8 students much younger than me. There was, what felt like, a straw mattress on the beds. We changed one sheet every two weeks, so had each sheet for a month. A chair and a bureau with 2 large drawers and 2 small drawers, separated each bed and you shared that bureau with a student sleeping next to you. If your dorm was at the rear of the building you had large windows and the rooms were quite cold.
- Once lights were out, there was no talking. Many tried to read with a flashlight under their sheets, in the hopes on not getting caught. If you were caught the book and flashlight were taken. Mardi or the matrons often snuck up to the rooms to make sure we were behaving.
- Short changing the sheets wasn't an uncommon practice.
- We had a winter uniform and summer uniform. the length of the skirt/dress was measured by kneeling on the floor and the hem could be no more than 1-inch above the floor.
- We handwashed our clothes and dried them in a little closet on the top floor that held the heating pipes. We would hang our clothes over the pipes and that's how they dried.
- We were assigned bathing times. I think twice a week. The first person in the bath had clean water. We weren't allowed to change the water between students bathing - there were about 5 a night for each tub. I used to crack the drain and let the water run down, very slowly and then cracked the faucet to partially fill with clean water. Otherwise it was beyond gross. The tubs on the top floor were in an open room, so there was no privacy. I think we were allowed 10 minutes to bathe.
- We were allowed to wash our hair once a week, unless you had a letter from a doctor. Actually we didn't wash it, the matrons did it.
- We had to chop and collect the wood for the fireplaces in our classrooms.
- No phone calls allowed, however for some reason I did receive a couple of calls during my 4-year stay because I think Mardi liked my father
- You could have parents visit on Saturday or Sunday for a total of 3 times a semester. A friend could visit once a semester. By 1967 my family had returned to the US and consequently I didn't leave often - only if invited by another student. I do remember that a couple of times Mardi (Headmistress) took a few of us who were Catholic, to a Catholic Church in Axminster. I also remember going there to a store to buy shoes or socks.
- Letter writing to parents on Sunday. The envelopes were not to be sealed, I assume so they could be read if warrented. If you received a letter, it was handed out at breakfast.
- We were allowed one puond of candy per semester, which was kept in a closet and at "break" every day you could take a couple of pieces. Candy/sweets were so hard to come by that some students would pay a lot of money to buy a candy bar from another student.
- There was a weekly assignment sheet for 3-4 students at a time to set-up the dining room tables for 3 meals a day, to serve the food to the 12-14 tables of 9 and then clear and do the dishes.
-There was also weekly assigned table seating and one of those tables belonged to the headmistresses, which put the fear of God in everyone. Every day you rotated your seat, so at some point you sat next to her. Live-in teachers, which most were, sat at the heads of the other tables.
- We we allowed unlimited bread and margarine and on Sunday only, each table was given 1/2 a stick (1/4 lb) of butter as a treat. Consequently after the "table head" carefully divided the 12 stick of butter into 9 pieces, what you ended up with was a sliver.
- There were very strick rules regarding table manners, such as to how you cut and ate a roll or piece of toast. You could break a roll but the toast had to be cut into 3 pieces. Many of those "rules" I still do.
- Examples of meals were porriage - right out of "Oliver" - it was lumpy and disgusting. Stews with more potatoes than meat or vegetables and fried bread with marmite, which has an acquired taste. On Sunday we had the most delicious apple crumble. I don't know what kind of apples they were but to me they had more of a pear flavor. If a table didn't finish theirs, there was a fight for leftovers.
- I hated sports and frequently hid my gym shoes/sneakers so I didn't have to do it. Actually I didn't mind lacrosse for some reason.
- Weekend walks were manditory and supervised. On a nice day, they were great, but often it was cold.
- "The Beagles" where the teachers lived - I snuck down there with a couple of other people. We went into one of the buildings, which looked like a barn, was in very poor condition and full of bats! Needless to say, we didn't stay long and thankfully didn't get caught.
- Together with a friend, we snuck out to the little store just outside the gates, to buy candy. We then walked up the road, went through the woods and down the hill infront of the school, in hopes of not getting caught. I think the only time I got caught was when a few of us had a mignight feast in the small room where we had paino lessons (behind the stage). We had to write 100 times that we wouldn't do it again. I don't know where we got the money to buy the food or how we got it. I think we had a very small allowence. Other midnight feasts were held in the theatre or dormitory.
- Some of us had pets - rabbits and/or guinea pigs. I had two guinea pigs called "Gin" and "Tonic". I don't remember how long I had them. Baby rabbits were often born and then eaten by the mother because they had been picked up, so I was told.
- Getting permission to go to the basement to pick out books to read from the closet was something I loved.
- A few of us took some kind of dried grass, near the pet area, and tried to convince eachother that we knew how to smoke. Not far from this spot some of us had a "garden." I think I only had strawberries in mine.
- A number of us had a transistor radio with an earphone, which we had on during exams or assignments in class. Not getting caught was often tricky.
- Going to the church at the gates was a Sunday requirement. I loved being in the choir and singing the hymns.
- Theatre productions I was in were, "1776," "Dido and Aeneas" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream."
- Once we had a tour of "Shute Manor," just inside the gates to the right, which was the birthplace of Cecily (Grey) Bonville, great grandmother of Lady Jane Grey.


Added 21 April 2014

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Comments & Feedback

I arrived at Shute when Pippins was closed down. I was only 9 years old in 1965. There was three of us from pippins and we had to walk to the top of the hill to take transportation to an elementary school. We would then return to board at Shute. I hated this school and was always trying to run away not getting very far I would hide in the shrubs. Then I would be in trouble and sent to the sick rooms. I don't remember too much so it was nice to read your article. I remember the dorm rooms and the mice in the small chest of drawers next to the bed. I was one of those that talked after lights and had to stand on the landing until I could recite a poem without a mistake. I was also in Dido and Aeneas one of the cherubs lol. I only lasted two years at this school and went on to a school in Buckinghamshire that was 100 percent better. We actually learnt some things instead of having to curtsey to the headmistress. I also remember having to sit at the desk on Sunday's to write our letters home. I had to show mine to whom ever was in charge.
I had a black rabbit and my sister Hilary also had one and we named them topsy and turvey. We had to get straw from a place that had rats.
I also remember having piano lessons in a wing that we had to get to by going through a tunnel and I used to be terrified of the bats.
I also had heard about the Lady Jane Grey stories and use to have nightmares at night.
I remember we got caught sneaking off beyond the gate to the candy shop and also the three candies we were allowed per day.
Thank you for writing the memories I have never really talked about this school. I didn't think people would believe me. My name was Lynne McGregor when I went there.

What a fascinating read down memory lane. I was Dido!!!
I spent five happy terms at Shute School between 1968 and 1970. I went as a stop gap having been expelled from Wicken Park, a prep school in Buckinghamshire, prior to going to Millfield in September 1970.
I am very grateful to Mardi (Miss Freeman, the headmistress) for making an effort to understand me and encouraging me to act and enjoy poetry and history. Having been to several schools during this era I do not agree that Shute was very strict. Spartan yes, but Mardi spotted the individual in every child and found a way to help the child express herself and grow 😊
I went to Shute at about the age of 13 and left just after I was 17 in 1968.
My parents sent me there as they didn’t like my friend at the time who they thought was leading me astray!
When I look back on my time there I can see how beautiful it was but I was often unhappy and missed home.
Mardi was scary. Once she called me into her study and told me I was a bad influence and sent me to a tiny dorm (Lillylake Dressing Room ) where I made a lifelong friend,one of two I’m still in touch with. I asked what I’d done and got no answer. There followed a period of misery for me.
Strangely, the following year I was elevated to The Triumvirate. Quite an honour. I’ve never understood it all!
One of my favourite times was Sundays after supper where we congregated in Mardi’s study with our knitting or sewing and she would read to us. She was an excellent reader. The Mayor of Castorbridge was a favourite, and reading had been a big part of my life ever since.
My best friend is still my best friend after all these years.

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