Second Form at St. Clare's

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name = Second Form at St. Clare's
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author = Enid Blyton
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pub_date = 1944
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preceded_by = "Summer Term at St. Clare's"
followed_by = "Claudine at St. Clare's"

"Second Form at St Clares" is the fourth in the St. Clare's series of children's novels by Enid Blyton. The series is about the boarding school adventures of twin girls Patricia and Isabel O'Sullivan. Both girls have been promoted to the second form and are very excited about it. Their form mistress is now Miss Jenks and they no longer have to bear the severeness of first form mistress Miss Roberts.

Plot summary

The second form has only two girls who have been kept back from third form and two new girls. The two old girls are Elsie Fenshawe and Anna Johnson. Both are disliked as Elsie is spiteful and Anna is very lazy; however, both are made head of their form, replacing Hilary Wentworth who was head in first form.

The two new girls are Gladys Hilman and Mirabel Unwin.

* Gladys is miserable because her mother is ill and in hospital, she rarely speaks or joins in and is nicknamed "The Misery Girl". It takes Mirabel to find out what is wrong with her.

* Mirabel Unwin is determined to make the worst of things and ruin class for everyone; she was sent away from home because of her behaviour towards her younger brother and sister. Mirabel's attitude leads her into trouble when Carlotta slaps her in public for ruining a play rehearsal; but, despite initially feeling angry with her, Mirabel learns her lesson and forgives Carlotta, later admitting to Isabel that she is ashamed of her behaviour and wants to be friends with the girls instead, with Mirabel and Isabel becoming friends as a result of this. Mirabel initially declares she wants to leave at half term but ends up staying when Pat and Isabel stand up for her and the girls decide to give her a chance.

Although at first they do not get on well, an unlikely friendship later develops between Gladys and Mirabel, as they help each other cope with their first time in boarding school. Mirabel turns out to be a talented musician and Gladys a gifted actor, and the class manage to use these talents to ease the two girls into the way of things at the school.

Alison becomes devoted to the new mistress, Miss Quentin, who teaches drama and elocution. The feather-headed Alison shows strength of character in her diginified response to a snub dealt out by Miss Quentin, and reveals that Miss Quentin lied about her knowledge of Gladys' acting abilities.

The term passes by eventfully, and Anna becomes a surprisingly popular head girl - she throws aside her laziness and starts becoming involved in class affairs after a public bust-up between her and Elsie, with the latter losing her position as a result. When Elsie is stripped of her position, Anna takes to her new position of sole head girl with a new-found enthusiasm and discovers she actually enjoys the sense of responsibility she feels at helping others and setting a good example. When Mrs Theobald refuses to let Mirabel send a telegram home asking for her violin, mistakenly thinking that Mirabel has only stopped misbehaving because she has got tired of it, she confides in Anna, who goes to see the Headmistress and explains to her that Mirabel is in fact ashamed of herself and wants to do better. As a result of Anna's directness, Mirabel is allowed to send the telegram and Anna is admired and respected by all of the other girls for performing such a kindly act.

A concert given by the girls proves a huge success, but Elsie is forbidden to take part as a result of her behaviour towards Anna when the decision was made to strip Elsie of her position as joint head girl. Anna and Carlotta both offer Elsie an olive branch, but Elsie has still not learned her lesson after being left out and sets out to ruin a birthday party given by Carlotta as revenge. However Hilary discovers Elsie's plan, and instead of holding the party the evening of Carlotta's birthday as planned, the girls hold a midnight feast the night before instead. Elsie gets into trouble as a result when her plan to expose the private party backfires.

At term's end, Anna is told she can now go up to the Third Form, who have heard about her success as head girl and want her to return to their year. Elsie is also granted passasge into the Third Form, but is told that she is on her last chance and that she must drop her malicious and spiteful attitude if she wants to stay there.

Other

* Later reprints of the book change from Carlotta slapping Mirabel for ruining a Drama class to her stepping on her toe.

* Gladys mentions that during the summer she has to stay at school due to her mother being ill and having no other family, she will be the only one there apart from two other girls whose parents are in India. It is later discovered that Hilary Wentworth was probably one of these girls as she doesn't come back for the sixth form as she is going to join her parents there.