I understand that in the Armada paperbacks both of these Chalet School books were quite significantly cut, but I have not been able to discover how significantly this '2-in-1' edition was abridged.

‘Trials for the Chalet School’ is mostly about Naomi Elton, a girl with some quite serious physical disabilities who feels embittered and angry, determined not to be friendly with anyone. The head girl, Mary-Lou, who hoped for an easy term, is asked to keep an eye out and befriend Naomi.

‘Theodora and the Chalet School’ features another girl starting the school rather older than is normal, and at an unusual time of the year. Theodora, abbreviated to Ted, has a bad record from her previous schools and an unsympathetic mother. But she’s given a chance to start afresh.

Naturally there’s a lot that seems old-fashioned now; vague mentions of ‘operations’, lengthy isolation for infectious illnesses, and Matey’s infamous doses. But then the books were original written at the end of the 1950s, and for the time were quite radical as far as education went.

Best read as part of the series rather than stand-alones, since there's so much character development in the lengthy series as a whole. Overall I thought both of these books - which I last read at least twenty years previously - were interesting and also quite thought-provoking in places, handling tricky subjects that could still be relevant today. ( )