| June 1, 2006 – Mohamed says: In the first book, St Clare's is described as being a sensible school, not an expensive one at all. It even says that the beds of the twins are not very comfortable, but in The O' Sullivan Twins, it is described as being 'expensive'! |
| June 16, 2006 – Mitali says: I suppose this means that St Clare’s is not very expensive relatively speaking – i.e. in comparison to most boarding schools of the same calibre – but probably quite expensive in absolute terms. |
| July 30, 2006 – tejaswi says: The school was not so expensive. It was expensive during such a situation where Lucy's parents had no money at all. (Remember Lucy's father telling that he saved no money at all.) |
| August 16, 2006 – Zabeth says: The twins were very stuck up and were used to criticising the less expensive school. But the fact was that it was quite expensive!!! |
| October 2, 2006 – Aliceadie says: Maybe it didn't look like it was expensive, but it was. And even if it wasn't that costly, Lucy's parents would feel it when her family became poor. |
| December 4, 2006 – Anonymous says: I think they just mean too expensive for poor people like Lucy, who became poor after the accident. |
| January 17, 2007 – Jeni says: Sensible and expensive are words with different meanings. Of course, sensible does not necessarily mean expensive, and expensive is not always sensible! Also, 'expensive' can be relative, it all depends on the persons involved. The very wealthy may find the tuition fees 'normal' at St. Clare's, however, the hardworking, struggling parent/s who send a child to St. Clare's may find the tuition fees sky high, barely affordable or outrageously expensive, take your pick. My guess is that wealthy students were not the norm. The O'sullivan twins came from a slightly above average income household, not necessarily struggling. Most of the girls at St. Clare's would have come from homes similar to the O'Sullivan twins. I'm guessing that all boarding schools must have been expensive in EB's time. Think about it, the school has to cover costs for tuition, food, lessons, medical aid, stationery, and much, much more. Somebody has to pay for this stuff and so any parents wanting their child to experience a first-rate education must shell out the kind of money needed for such a costly, and valuable education. |
| February 2, 2007 – Anonymous says: St. Clare's is a very sensible school compared to schools like Redroofs, High Towers etc. As pointed out before it still would have been very expensive to have your child educated at a boarding school. By sensible, however, Enid Blyton meant that it didn't spoil the girls and didn't allow them to live a life of luxury. In fact the girls were taught how to live sensibly and several times throughout the books the girls are told to make the most out of their opportunities at St.Clare's as their parents are paying high fees. |
| December 29, 2011 – N1 says: At the beginning of 'The Twins at St Clare's' Pat and Isabel's friends, Mary and Frances, are going to Ringmere School. The O'Sullivan parents refuse as Ringmere is a school that would make the twins more stuck-up. Janet later calls Redroofs 'the school for snobs', meaning that the maids did everything for the girls. Pat tells Matron that in her old school there were sewing-maids. Therefore, the school must have a lot of money and could get the money from high fees. However, in Summer Term at St Clare's, Miss Theobald says to Bobby, "Why are your parents paying high fees to send you here? So that you can have a good time and nothing but a good time?" Maybe Blyton meant that it was expensive, but not as expensive as Redroofs and Ringmere. |
| February 7, 2012 – Bibagr says: Thanks Ali, for all those great bteifens of separating twins in school. I'm working on Part 3 (Reasons to separate twins in school) in my series and your comments will be a big help! |
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Bets says: Bteifens? |
| June 1, 2013 – Sapna says: I think in the Summer Term at St Clare's and The O' Sullivan Twins the connotation of the word expensive is "high fees for covering costs like tuition, boarding and sports" whereas in The Twins at St. Clare's, not expensive means "not posh, luxurious and elitist" like Ringmere and Redroofs. |
| June 21, 2017 – Avan N. Cooverji says: St. Clares is definately an expensive school, for ordinary people cannot afford to send their children there. Also the girls at St. Clare's come from rich and well connected families,which is apparent when students like The Right Honourable Angela Favorleigh turn up their proud noses on seeing girls from middle class families being at the school and often you hear them remarking that their parents would never have sent them there if they knew what sort of girls were admitted to St. Clare's, thereby meaning girls from families less wealthy than themselves. For my part, I would any day prefer to attend an ordinary school rather than an exclusive one where such snobbish rich girls go, for it would be I who would not want to associate with such shallow bird -brained people rather than the other way around, as I would strongly feel that it is they who are not fit to associate with me. |
Enid Blyton
The Official
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Keith Robinson