Going to school together

[Nair Snehalatha]

In the Find Outers they.all go to different schools-- sometimes it happens that Pip,Larry.,Daisy return to school a week earlier-- Fatty goes a week later.Enid Blyton never mentions about Bets going to school
In the earlier books it's.said she was still too small to go. I often wonder how lonely Fatty felt without the others-- when they left for their term time-- Perhaps.he had Bets to keep him company-- try on new disguises and things-- and they were very.fond of each other. It would have been marvellous if they had all gone to the same school as in the Famous Five.

[Lucky Star]

Fatty went to a different boarding school than the others so he wouldn't have had Bets for company. Many of the books begin with the others going to meet Fatty off the train when he comes home.

The Famous Five didn't all go to the same school either. The boys went to one school, the girls to another. They all met up in the holidays.

[Daisy]

Bets was much younger and was not sent away to boarding school. She would attend the local village school until she was at least eleven. In Enid's school stories the girls seem to start in the lowest form at the age of twelve (Malory Towers) and even thirteen or fourteen (St Clare's).

[Nair Snehalatha]

I just wanted to say.how lovely it would have been if they all went to school together-- Fatty,Larry,Pip in a boys' school-- and Daisy.and Bets in a different girls' school. Then it would have been fantabulous-- The Secret Seven too--.the boys went to the same boys' school.-- and the girls in the same girls' school-- even Susie-- Jack's irritating.sister.

[Daisy]

With the Secret Seven it seems the children do attend local day schools. There is never any mention of going away to school, that I can recall in the books. In fact I think they all (boys and girls) went to the same junior school as they seem to have been below high school age - at least at the start of the series.

[Debbie]

In those days there would have been very few boarding schools that were mixed, I think.

I'm not even certain that Pip and Larry go to the same one- is it's mentioned? I think they might have found that seeing Fatty all term time as well as all holidays was too much of a good thing.

With the FF the boys go to one (I think it would have been unusual for brothers to go to different ones) and I think at the end of FoaTI Anne persuades George to give hers a try on the basis dogs are allowed! Not sure any boarding school would actually be happy for people to bring their dogs, but it seems to be an allowance in school stories!

With the Adventure series, it ends up with the girls at one school, the boys at another, because there's at least one where one set arrive home first. They obviously must have made that choice as they weren't at the same in Island (I've just realised that 3 series start with an island book: FF, Adventure and Secret!). I wonder whether it was the Mannerings or the Trents who changed? In some ways it might be more awkward for the ones who already were there with their friends, to have their holiday friends at school too. Perhaps less so for Dinah as she would have been in an older year.

[Hannah]

I'm not even certain that Pip and Larry go to the same one- is it's mentioned? I think they might have found that seeing Fatty all term time as well as all holidays was too much of a good thing.

Pip and Larry don't seem to go to the same school. In Disappearing Cat Pip comes home one day and "Larry and Daisy will be home tomorrow".

And I think Bets might be going to boarding school in the later books. But some things don't really fit.
In Strange Bundle they see "three interested children coming up on their way home from morning school". So if Bets went to the village school, shouldn't she have been in school then too? But maybe she went to some public school as day girl.
In Missing man (which is later) Pip says "You wait till you go to boarding school" and it's said about Bets "she wasn’t all alone then, the only one going to a day-school".
In Banshee towers she says "I do think this is a most exciting shed. It’s lovely to be back again, after so long at school.” " but of course that could mean that she just couldn't go to the shed because Fatty was away.

[Nair Snehalatha]

..Bets.must.have gone.to a local school.She.sure must have missed.her.best friends-- the other Find outers in term time. I wish Blyton.had putbotj Bets and Daisy in one.girls school and the boys in a boys school-- a local one--- they could have seen more of each other.like.the.Secret Seven
Bets.could.have been given the key to Fatty's shed-- Bets and Fatty.were very fond of each other-- but there again.it might.offend the others

[S-Dog2001]

I wonder where they would have all gone after they finished boarding school? Would Fatty have started being a detective straight away, or would he have gone to uni?

[Nair Snehalatha]

Am sure Fatty.would have started training to be a detective as he was cut out for it.He would have taken.a course on.Disguising-- and Disguises. The others may have gone to uni--.but they still remsin staunch friends.

[S-Dog2001]

I kind of think that Fatty wouldn't have needed any more training...

[Nair Snehalatha]

I feel you are wrong there-- Fatty was a born detective and actor-- but he would take training and be the best detective of Scotland Yard. Bets may be his assistant--- in several mysteries she gave the key to the unlock the mystery.In Pantomime Cat , she wondered if it was someone else in the cat's skin-- In secret room Bets sniffef the smell of oranges, in Tally ho cottage she marvelled how mrs larkin is so like mrs Lorenzo-- the way she treats Poppet--- and so on.--- Yes,Bets would be a fine helper for Fatty.

[Deejay]

I suppose the children in all the various books going to different schools added to all the intrigue and excitement of all seeing each other in the holidays and the prospect of an impending mystery. I always thought that was an element which added to the books.

[pete9012S]

Interesting to read everyone's opinions on this thread.
There's obviously no right or wrong or definitive suggestion/answer on our fascinating conjecture on this subject.

The Find Outers could not have functioned to the same level without Fatty, surely?

Yes, Bets and the others often did sometimes put Fatty on the right track like Watson did for Holmes, or Hastings did for Poirot.

Imagine if all the Find Outers went to school locally in Peterswood - Goon would have surely needed constant sedation to control his blood pressure.

Fatty seems to me to be largely self taught in the art of detection.
Further schooling in this area, including forensics and criminal profiling along with pairing him with an adoring sidekick like Bets would surely have made them a pair of detectives much, much more able than even Cagney & Lacey.

[S-Dog2001]

Yes, it seems to be quite a common idea that Bets would have been Fatty's assistent later on (I fully agree with this as well), but does anyone think that the other three would also have worked with Fatty? He would probaby have enough money to pay all of them. I know when Bets brings up this idea in the spiteful letters the others sort of laugh it off as if it's unlikely, but I don't really see why that couldn't happen - they all work really well together already!