“BATTLE” AT GIRLS’ SCHOOL

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 227, 22 June 1936, Page 6

“BATTLE” AT GIRLS’ SCHOOL

Police Called In On Good Friday What was described as a "pitched battle” at an English girls’ approved school led to summonses at Croydon recently. Before the court were three girls from the school charged with serious misconduct at the institution on Good Friday. A fourth girl was stated to be in hospital with tonsilitis. Their ages were from 15 to 17.

Prosecuting solicitor said that the girls, who had been committed to the school from the courts, had recently shown considerable insolence and defiance of authority. They had wilfully broken crockery, and once attacked a member of the staff.

On Good Friday the warden was compelled to call in the police. There ■had been virtually a pitched battle between the insubordinate elements and the staff, to whose aid the loyal girls rallied. It was necessary that the coteries of insubordinate girls should be broken up. One of the girls said that she had had only porridge, tea and bread for breakfast on Good Friday, while other girls had hot-cross bung also. She admitted that was because she went down late for breakfast. To show their feelings they threw crockery on the floor and broke it. The solicitor said that the difference in the breakfast was simply a necessary disciplinary measure. One girl had previously absconded, and that morning had refused to get up. Another girl said the trouble arose because they did not want to go to church, and a third girl stated that she broke two plates because she did not get the same breakfast as the others. She admitted being one of those who went down late. The chairman (Mrs. Rivers-Moore) : Well, when people come down late for breakfast in any household they are apt to go short. All the girls were discharged under the Probation Act on the understanding that they would be sent separately to other approved schools to complete their terms of detention.