10 Question Kids Quiz: The New Mistress at the Chalet School | Brent-Dyer, Elinor

Answer: Oxford

Like many 'Chalet School' characters, Miss Ferrars is an Oxford graduate. She was in the same year as Nell Randolph, a former Chalet School pupil, and was a couple of years below two other Old Girls, Mollie Carew and Joan Sandys. At the beginning of the book, she receives a letter from Miss Wilson offering her a job teaching geography, maths and English.

She will also be the form mistress for the new Intermediate Fifth form, or Inter V, a mixed-age form with girls who are not ready to go into the Fifth Form but too old for the Upper Fourth form. Nell did not apply for the job as she wanted to be near her mother (and Miss Ferrars speculates that she didn't want to be working with Miss Annersley, who is her cousin), so she took a job at the English branch instead.

Answer: A sprig of heather on her coat

Miss O'Ryan picks a very distinctive outfit to wear when meeting her new colleague: a black coat, skirt and hat with a blue band, a blue jumper in the same colour as the hatband, and a sprig of heather on her coat. Miss Ferrars also wears the heather, which enables the two mistresses to pick each other out of the crowd. Miss O'Ryan accompanies Miss Ferrars on the boat train to Paris and explains that they will be going to Basle from Paris, with stops in between for food. Miss Burnett and Miss Andrews meet them in Basle and give them a lift to the school. On the way, Miss O'Ryan tells Miss Ferrars about the Maynard family and discovers that Miss Ferrars is a fan of Joey's books.

Answer: Mary-Lou answers a question on behalf of another girl.

Miss Ferrars dislikes Mary-Lou because she finds Mary-Lou's manner over-familiar and interfering, and responds coldly to her when Mary-Lou makes conversation about the echoes on a walk. Miss Ferrars has to take her form for geography as Miss Moore, who usually takes them, has a dental appointment, and although the work is relatively simple, Mary-Lou dominates the discussion and tries to stay on the topic of wells when Miss Ferrars wants to talk about grass types.

She asks Hilary Wilson a question, but Hilary isn't paying attention and gets flustered, so Mary-Lou answers for her. Miss Ferrars tells her that the question was not aimed at her and that there are other people in the class besides her. Mary-Lou is hurt and cannot understand what she did to upset the mistress.

Answer: Blood

Because the staff evening involves a lot of dancing and jumping around, the mistresses are advised to wear old dresses that they aren't bothered about ruining, and Miss Ferrars writes home for her bloodstained pink frock. Miss Andrews asks if she spilled soup on it and Miss Ferrars explains that she banged into a door and got a nosebleed during a power outage. (If you have the Girls Gone By edition of the book, there's a short story about the incident called 'Justice and Mercy' by Adrianne Fitzpatrick.) The Sixth Formers get the mistresses to play a complicated game of Follow My Leader, 'Scandal' (also known as Chinese Whispers) and a Halloween game involving jumping over candlesticks, which also appeared in 'The Exploits of the Chalet Girls'.

They also have to do the Bacca Pipes jig, identify some weird-looking items and make things out of paper and cardboard. Miss Ferrars gets a balloon as a booby prize and some Morris braces for her attempt at dancing.

Answer: Miss Ferrars nearly falls off a cliff, but Mary-Lou saves her.

Miss Ferrars takes a group of Sixth Formers to Wahlstein for their half-term trip and they go to visit a magnificent glacier. On their way back to the guesthouse, the party navigate a difficult bit of rock near the glacier, where some of the ground is coming loose. Miss Ferrars is the last in line and while she is standing on the edge looking at the glacier, Mary-Lou pulls her away, and Miss Ferrars is about to tell her off when the rock comes loose. Both she and Mary-Lou are very shaken at her narrow escape, and Mary-Lou has to be carried part of the way as her back is aching (a result of the accident in 'Mary-Lou of the Chalet School'). Matron insists that both of them rest up when they get back to the school, giving Miss Ferrars a dose to help her sleep, and the party want to cover the incident up in case the younger girls hear of it. Joey Maynard lightens the mood by announcing that Daisy Rosomon, née Venables, has given birth to a baby boy.

Answer: She throws a sparkler on the floor.

Miss Ferrars is in a lot of pain and not in a good mood when she takes Inter V for maths, and scolds Con over her poor maths work. Margot gets angry on her sister's behalf and throws a sparkler on the floor to get back at Miss Ferrars. Margot admits to throwing the sparkler, and as it is the triplets' birthday weekend, Miss Ferrars tells Margot that instead of going home after breakfast on Saturday to get ready for the party, she will arrive after lunch with the guests instead. Len pleads with Miss Ferrars to give Margot another punishment, as Margot missing out would upset her and Con, but Miss Ferrars tells her that the only alternative would be a Head's Report and that Margot should write to Joey to explain. (Heather Clayton is the one who released a toy spider during an earlier prep session, and Francie Wilford threw a pellet at Len in the same session.)

Answer: Arthurian Britain

The Pertwee girls, Yseult, Valencia and Veronique (aka Ronny) have joined the Chalet School as their old school has closed. While Valencia and Veronique settle in well, Yseult is in Inter V despite being almost seventeen, due to the poor quality of her work, and has to have extra coaching, which both she and the teachers - Miss Ferrars among them - resent. Mrs Pertwee comes to visit her daughters and has lunch with the staff.

She dresses in hippyish clothes, talks incessantly, writes 'lush' novels which are considered to be unsuitable for the girls, and her area of interest is Arthurian Britain; she and Miss O'Ryan have an argument over King Arthur.

She is due to travel to the USA to give a series of lectures on her theories and has come to see her daughters before she goes.

The staff are bemused by her, to say the least.

Answer: No

Miss Ferrars has been unsure of how strict to be with the girls; on the train to Basle, Miss O'Ryan advises her to draw a line and stick to it, but not to draw the reins too tightly or the girls will resent it. Joey brings over the script for the Christmas play and the girls are excited about the news, but Margot is too upset to notice. Miss Ferrars asks her why she is crying so much and Con tells Miss Ferrars that Margot's prank was her fault, as Margot did it on her behalf.

As Saturday is the triplets' actual birthday, Miss Ferrars relents and allows Margot to go home at the same time as her sisters, though she warns Margot that she won't be as lenient next time.

She also decides not to tell Miss Annersley about the incident.

Answer: King Herod

As Yseult is a new girl and the parts are given out rather than auditioned for, she has a minor part as a lady in King Herod's court and only one line. Mary-Lou is given the role of Herod due to having been at the school longer, but Yseult is desperate for the part. Betty Landon tells her that she wouldn't be suitable for the part as she has very long hair and Mary-Lou is better at passing for a man. Yseult begs Miss Ferrars to give her the part instead as she has experience acting, but Miss Ferrars refuses. Mary-Lou walks in and is angry with Yseult when Yseult says in front of her that she can play the part better than Mary-Lou. Yseult also badgers Miss Derwent and Miss Dene about the play, but both of them give her short shrift.

Answer: A broken collarbone

During a staff meeting, Mlle de Lachennais brings up understudies and Miss Ferrars proposes Yseult as Mary-Lou's understudy. Unfortunately, this causes Yseult to become obsessed with getting the part of Herod and she plots to injure Mary-Lou and take her part.

The girls have a skiing session and Yseult skies carelessly, but Miss Annersley orders her to be more careful. Mary-Lou tells Yseult off for using the wrong stairs, which makes Yseult even more determined to hurt her. The next day, the girls go skiing again and Mary-Lou is skiing down a hill when Yseult tries to crash into her. Mary-Lou dodges, as she is a more experienced skier, and Yseult bangs into a pine tree and breaks her collarbone. Joey Maynard is there with her younger children and goes to get Jack for help, and Yseult ends up missing the play altogether because of her injury.

When term ends, Mary-Lou approaches Miss Ferrars and the two talk things over, and Miss Ferrars reveals that she figured Yseult was up to something and blames herself for Yseult getting obsessed with the play, but Mary-Lou reassures her that it was Yseult's own fault. Miss Annersley later tells Miss Ferrars that she has done a good job for her first term.