Treetops

Treetops school as a concept began on a short lived website of mine around 2012 and took on a life of its own last year with a series of stories featuring people I was in contact with who shared a similar outlook on the no longer existing Tumblr and perhaps with a few changes, will return on this account.
The basic premise of Treetops was it was set in a fictional school in South Staffordshire in a big rambling former hall of which there are fair number and converted into school for Adult Middles with a suitable middle backstory, who were struggling with life and learning be it ‘real’ schools, college or  University or whatever.
Part of the reason they were struggling was that the had very much for real a ‘Middle headspace’  that was their normal one so not only did they not relate to other adults as adults, from the inside they were not, being children of around 12 upward who simply could not cope with adult expectations and critically needed the structure of traditional girls school.
Treetops was a place that offered them a second chance because it respected their being adult middles, allowing them to express themselves while at the same by effectively putting them back in school, it provided the very structured life they needed as well the chance to improve on their formal education.
Every Treetops adult Middle ‘child’ has to wear a full per-determined school uniform with only a few exemptions that they are given as needed, there is a house system which every girl is assigned, and Prefects to encourage the girls to exercise responsibility for themselves and to ensure other girls do the same
Treetops provided them with personal support and guidance that went beyond academic education, covering social and life skills as many had struggled with these that to get by around the Adult World they needed  to grasp.
Treetops also understood something fundamental about most adult middles, which is often they struggle with behavioral norms, don’t get subtle hints and more ‘grown up’ ways of disciplining them so they agreed to be given strict corporal punishment instead which often works better at making long term changes for the better to their attitudes and behaviour in their work and personal relationships.

This would start from slapping of legs and hands, through spanking to like Jo here, having the cane with many finding it not only helped with learning appropriate attitudes but with being in an appropriate sense of place being held to account in suitably child-like way. Treetops middles truly appreciated this even if some big wigs in the Adult World had issues with it, because it works for them.
In some ways them it was more a cross between an enlightened, progressive Reform School and Malory Towers, which as far as the girls were concerned was the bestest place to be.

16 going on 9 Jo

I think some indication of the mismatch between age and development socially compared to my peers can be taken by how it was at the age of sixteen I thought it was  okay to draw and  on the chalkboard and pin up childish drawings in our Form centre and write disrespectful remarks comments about teachers on any homework submitted when I felt like doing it while studying advanced subjects.
Academic interest was not matched by any sense of developmental maturity nor of any consistent ideas about wrong and right behaviors. I might well of benefited from being taken down a year or two and placed on their much stricter discipline regimes as much of that behaviour run into adulthood in the workplace.

Regressed replacements XVI

And if that wasn't enough the next day I had to call into the Head Teachers office.

She had me wait several minutes then meekly stand before her palms outstretched as she take a tawse to my hands saying you'll never ever do this again young Miss.
This was the most painful 24 hours of my life and I couldn't stop it.

Pushing the boat out

One of the memorable events of the Diamond Jubilee was the Thames pageant on Sunday last which, notwithstanding the god awful weather, continues pretty much to plan bar the air flypast and here's one image I like from it for anyone that missed the tv and newspaper coverage.
I quite like boats having sailed in my youth and this was a great colourful spectacular two years in the planning showing the man powered boats making their way down the Thames.

Today I've been sorting some stuff out for Goodwill as one side effect of running around and playing  is some of my BG clothes no longer fit as I've lost some weight which may mean more space for my LG stuff as most of that is either stretchy or has elasticated waists so fits even better (yay!)and making space for a new item that Taffy would wholeheartedly approve of (shh).

The classroom

A traditional classroom with desks, sloping seat chairs with the teachers desk complete with bell. Tellingly for the era, the wooden paddle is hung next to it in full view of the whole class no doubt as a reminder to every child to behave.