The Study
Children at Caldecott were placed in different groups, according to age. Those of 6 years of age or younger were in the Nursery, 7 and 8 year olds in a group named the Junior Study, 9 and 10 year olds in the Senior Study [usually abbreviated to the Study]. These were mixed groups of boys and girls, but from 11 years of age we entered the Seniors, and were segregated.
I was just ten years of age, and therefore spent one year in the [Senior] Study before going up into the Seniors.
We were looked after by Mrs. Hansen, and I remember that she would take us out on walks, often accompanied by one or other of her sons, John and Gary.
The Study had the good fortune to have its playroom in the most beautiful room in the house. It has always amazed me that the Adam fireplaces in this and all the other main rooms survived without being vandalised. The beautiful ceiling in this room was in any event well out of reach.
In our playroom we had several pet mice, whose numbers were always changing thanks to births and deaths. Some were “owned” by individual children, to the envy of some of the other children. Fortunately, nobody who wanted a mouse was without one for long, as even at that tender age some of us knew that we had only to put a male and a female in together, and a new supply of mice would be available shortly afterwards.
There was also a collection of good quality wooden building bricks of different shapes and sizes, which we would use to build all sorts of structures, including a maze of sloping tunnels. It was very satisfying to put a marble in at the top so that it would negotiate several corners and emerge at the bottom. The same trick was also performed with mice.
Up to the age of 11, we were educated at Caldecott. The schoolroom was in a former stable block in what was still known as the Stable Yard. The Nursery was above the schoolroom, and other buildings around the yard included the chapel and a prep room for older children.