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The Maynard / Bettany / Russell families

Josephine Mary 'Joey' Bettany (later Maynard)

First introduced in: The School at the Chalet

The first pupil of the Chalet School, younger sister of Madge and Dick Bettany, and the main heroine of the series, which follows her from adolescence to motherhood (she starts the series aged 12 and ends it in her forties). In Exile, she marries Dr Jack Maynard, converts to Catholicism and gives birth to triplets, the first of what would turn out to be eleven children (see below), four of whom also become Chalet School pupils. Joey is considered by pupils and teachers alike to be the 'spirit of the school', and it is customary for new girls to go for tea at her house during their first few weeks of term; when the school moves to Switzerland, she goes with it and moves into the Big Fancy House next door, which she calls 'Freudesheim' ('happy home'). She is also a writer of girls' school stories and historical fiction.

Attention Whore / It's All About Me: Especially in the later books, especially where babies are concerned. She seems to treat having babies as some kind of competition, and likes to comment on the size of other people's families compared to hers.
Beautiful Singing Voice: Is one of the best singers in the school in the Tyrol years, with a voice like a chorister's, to the point where she seriously considers studying music at one point. She is always called on to sing the solos in Christmas plays and other occasions when the girls have a singsong. As an adult, she's called in to sing a few times as well, such as the St Patrick's Day celebrations in Two Sams.
Berserk Button: Never be mean to the Robin, or you'll have a very angry Jo to deal with. And that includes putting the Robin's health at risk, which Eustacia indirectly did by causing the group she was with, which included Jo, to be stranded on a mountain, leading the Robin to make herself ill with worry. Madge calls her out on this in The Chalet School and the Lintons.
Big Friendly Dog: Is the owner of one from Jo of the Chalet School onwards, a Saint Bernard called Rufus who Joey rescues as a puppy. As well as being Joey's pet, he also helps her track down Cornelia and Elisaveta when they go missing. The Maynard family get another Big Friendly Dog, Bruno, much later on after Rufus dies.
Brain Fever: Comes close to it a couple of times, especially in Rivals, where she's raving and delirious after falling into the lake. Of course, now we know that 'brain fever' isn't a real thing.
Chekhov's Skill: Princess mentions that Joey's been learning Russian, appropriately enough for this trope, with the help of Captain Humphries. It's what enables her to figure out that Cosimo and Ternikai are up to no good when they come for Elisaveta - Cosimo speaks to Ternikai in Russian, calling Joey a 'brat' and saying she knows too much.
Chronic Hero Syndrome: From day one, she's a 'champion butter-in', always giving advice and pep talks, coming up with ideas and plans, helping out with teaching in Jo Returns when Mlle Lepattre becomes ill, and running off to rescue people who've climbed mountains, been kidnapped by strange men, fallen into rivers etc. She even ends up adopting a little girl in Summer Term after finding her in the wreckage of the train crash which killed said little girl's parents. In a few cases - especially in Rivals - it nearly gets her killed.
Commuting on a Bus: In the St Briavel's years, when the Maynards are in Canada, though she regularly keeps in touch with Miss Annersley. She comes home in Shocks, with Felicity and Felix.
The Confidant: Acts as this to many of the pupils, especially the troubled ones. Admittedly, she's not always great at keeping secrets, but she does do a great job of helping Jacynth Hardy through her auntie's death in Gay from China.
Cool Big Sis: Acts as this to the Robin when she first comes to the Chalet School, and gets overly protective of her at times.
Cool Teacher: In Jo Returns, when she gives Polly Heriot extra tuition in history, languages and essay writing. She later helps teach other classes due to a staff shortage.
Delicate and Sickly: This is one of the reasons why Madge wanted to go to the Tirol in the first place; she thought the mountain air would do her sickly little sister good. Which it does, but Joey is very, very prone to illnesses, and has more than one near-death experience as a result. Even standing too near an open door lands her in bed for days. In Rivals she falls into an icy lake and ends up with pleuro-pneumonia and a high fever, to the point where Jem is worried that her life is in danger. She survives, barely.
Determinator: When Joey's got her mind on something, nothing will stop her. Especially when it concerns helping others.
Everyone Hates Mathematics: Miss Maynard - who ends up becoming Joey's sister-in-law - despairs of Joey's lack of mathematical ability and Joey herself is only too happy to drop it when the time comes. She is not happy when she is given extra maths classes after Herr Laubach refuses to take her for art anymore.
Fainting: She does this a lot, mainly the emotional kind. As well as the Freak Out in Joey and Co in Tirol, there's also the time in New House when she faints upon seeing Alixe von Elsen sleepwalking, the Passion Play in The Chalet School and Jo, and numerous other incidents.
Fanfic: While she's laid up in bed in Jo of the Chalet School, she reads a load of Elsie Dinsmore stories and decides to write her own. Jem reads it and is notably impressed, and it is at this point that Joey realises she is going to be a writer one day.
Freak Out: She has a major one in Joey and Co in Tirol when Mike wanders over a cliff. And by 'major', we mean 'faints and is bedridden for hours'.
Frying Pan of Doom: In Jo to the Rescue, she attacks a pair of burglars with a frying pan, a plate and some bacon.
Full-Name Basis: You know Madge is angry with Joey when she calls her 'Josephine'.
Genki Girl: Very much so as a child / teen, to Madge's exasperation, in contrast to the grumpy Grizel and nervy Simone. Even as an adult, she still has her moments, though her experiences in Exile and Highland Twins force her to grow up.
Heroic BSoD: She has a major one in Highland Twins when she gets a telegram saying Jack has drowned. It's so out of character that it unnerves Madge, who can't understand why Joey isn't crying. Joey eventually breaks down and has to be given sleeping drugs. Luckily, as she finds out via Fiona McDonald, Jack is alive after all.
Heroines Love Dogs: Rufus and Bruno. See Big Friendly Dog above. (EBD, incidentally, was a dog lover herself, particularly German shepherd dogs, and even wrote books on the subject called Kennelmaid Nan and They Both Liked Dogs.)
Heroic Self-Deprecation: When Prince Carol and King Ridolfo, Elisaveta's father and grandfather, congratulate her for rescuing Elisaveta in Princess, she says anyone would have done the same.
Huge Schoolgirl: Has something of a growth spurt and ends up being much taller than Madge.
Hypocrite: In Summer Term, she and Erica encounter some beatnik girls on a train and Joey goes into a big rant about how the girls' scruffy, unkempt appearance means they need a 'capable nanny and a good tubbing', and that they clearly can't be trusted as they have no self-respect. This is a bit rich coming from a woman whose hair was frequently described as being like a golliwog's when short, and who was constantly pulled up by Madge for untidiness. Both the narrator and other girls also note that while Joey can be matey when she wants to be, she's very quick to go into Head Girl Mode and be 'on her dignity' if other girls try to banter with or tease her. Joyce Linton even calls her out on it, saying Joey can make fun of younger girls but they can't do it back.
Laser-Guided Karma: In Jo of the Chalet School, she and a group of friends sneak away to a local ice carnival, in direct defiance of Madge's order to stay away. She crashes into a skater - who turns out to be Jem of all people - and she ends up in bed for days as a result.
Leeroy Jenkins: To Madge's despair. As a child / teenager, Joey has a tendency to do impulsive things, be it rescuing a drowning puppy or running into a crowd of Nazi thugs and calling them 'cowards'.
Locked Out of the Loop: In Theodora, which is surprising given how involved she normally is in her daughters' lives. Because Joey's going through a difficult pregnancy at the time, Miss Annersley and Jack decide between them not to let her know about Margot's blackmailing of Ted and her fall-out with her sisters. Joey does figure something's up, but Miss Annersley refuses to go into details, except to say that everything has been sorted out.
Mama Bear: Towards both the Robin and her own children. Miss Annersley describes her as a 'tigress' when her children are threatened.
Most Writers Are Writers: Like her creator, she's an author of girls' school stories, though she later branches out into historical fiction. She writes her first book, Cecily Holds the Fort, in Jo Returns. Miss Annersley also invokes Write What You Know when she suggests that helping out with teaching will give Joey an idea of what life is like on the other side of the classroom. (Ironically, Joey complains about getting characters' details mixed up and forgetting who's who, something EBD was notorious for doing.)
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Telling other girls at the Chalet School about her encounter with Miss Browne in Rivals effectively prejudices the CS girls against St Scholastika's before they've even met - though in fairness to Joey, both sides are at fault, and she does befriend some of the St Scholastika's girls later.
Nice to the Waiter: In Jo to the Rescue, when Rich Bitch Zephyr Burthill orders her chauffeur to stay in his car - even though it's a hot summer day - Joey tells him to go and rest on a shady bench under a tree while she talks to Zephyr. Zephyr tries to protest, but Joey shuts her up.
The Nicknamer: Joey has a habit of bestowing nicknames on new girls, though sometimes there's a reason for it. For instance, her Meaningful Rename of Theodora Grantley to 'Ted' is a way of showing Ted that she can wipe the slate clean and start afresh at the Chalet School.
Omniglot: All Chalet School pupils and staff are expected to speak French, German and English on alternating days and have a working knowledge of the languages, but one of Joey's biggest skills is language learning. Besides the mandatory school languages, she also speaks Italian, Russian and even a bit of Romany language, though not Welsh for some reason.
Phrase Catcher: "Joey, that is so like you!" and "Joey always does everything wholesale!"
The Prankster: Plays several tricks as a schoolgirl, including trolling Gisela by telling her it is customary to give Madge a cup of water for St Swithin's Day, speaking entirely in Shakespearean English, starting a campaign against a nasty new matron in Princess, and putting cornflour in younger girls' hair.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives a few of these to wayward pupils during her time as Head Girl. She also tears strips off Annis Lovell's evil aunt in The Chalet School and the Island, after bumping into her while staying at Penny Rest.
Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: A major part of her character in the early books. She's more than happy to break rules in order to save people (or dogs, in Jo of the Chalet School). In Rivals, Simone tries to talk Joey out of running off to warn the St Scholastika's girls about the dangerous ice by reminding her of a Guide promise she made to Madge not to run away without telling her first. Joey responds that Madge would not want her to stand by when others are in danger.
Shipper on Deck: She and her friends act as this towards Phoebe and Dr Peters in Jo to the Rescue, when the former is in hospital and the latter is treating her, and they both clearly like each other but aren't sure whether to say anything. They end up married.
Spanner in the Works: If it hadn't been for Joey promising Madge to stick to Elisaveta like glue, Cosimo probably would have gotten away with his plan of kidnapping Elisaveta in Princess.
Took a Level in Badass: In Exile, when she defends an old Jewish man from a bunch of Nazis. Not to mention her climbing the Tiernjoch, a notoriously difficult mountain, alone to find Grizel after the latter runs away from school, and going off to rescue Elisaveta with only Rufus for company, not to mention that one of Elisaveta's kidnappers is batshit insane and dangerous to boot.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: A mild example in Two Sams when she takes Samaris and Samantha to visit Nina Rutherford after Nina is injured in a car crash. What Joey doesn't realise is that the other girls in their forms - especially Samantha's form - are jealous because they've known Nina longer and, in some cases, are more interested in music. Both Samaris and Samantha are rightfully angered by the other girls' bitchy behaviour and it causes a bad atmosphere in both forms.

Jack Maynard

A young doctor at the Sonnalpe Sanatorium in the Tyrol, who befriends Joey Bettany and later marries her. He is the brother of Mollie Maynard, the original maths mistress at the Chalet School. When the Sanatorium sets up a branch in Switzerland, he becomes its head and the Maynards move out to Switzerland.

Big Damn Heroes: Has several moments of this in the series, with one notable one being when he saves Len from being strangled to death by Frau Schumacher in Triplets.
Big Fancy House: Pretty Maids, the Maynards' home in the New Forest, owned by Jack's brother Bob. Joey spends the odd holiday there as a teen and the short story 'Joey's Convict', about Joey mistaking Miss Maynard's fiancé for a criminal, is set there. When Bob dies, Jack inherits Pretty Maids as Bob's son Rolf died young, but donates it to the National Trust as neither he nor Joey want to live there (and Joey dislikes the New Forest because she finds the air 'too relaxing').
Embarrassing Nickname: Carola Johnstone's father reveals in Carola that Jack's nickname at university was 'Jigger'.
May–December Romance: First gets to know Joey while she's still at school and is a good few years older than her, though they don't become a couple until she's left school.
Not Quite Dead: In Highland Twins, he's missing in action and Joey mistakenly receives a telegram saying he has died at sea, causing her to have a massive Heroic BSoD. Fiona McDonald's psychic powers tell her that he is still alive and she uses his rosary to help her 'see' him. Sure enough, she has a vision of him being on a ship and alive, albeit ill, which later turns out to be correct - he hit his head and was picked up by another boat, and the crew took care of him.
The Patriarch: Like Jem, he's very keen on the idea of training children to instant obedience, and is very strict with the kids. He even refuses to speak to Margot for two weeks after she falls out with her sisters in Theodora.
Shipper on Deck: For Biddy O'Ryan and Eugen Courvoisier in The Chalet School Does It Again. He notes that Eugen seems to be very interested in the school…and that Biddy is 'a pretty lass'.

The Maynard children

Joey and Jack's eleven - yes, eleven - children. In age order, they are: triplets Mary Helena (Len), Mary Constance (Con) and Mary Margaret (Margot)^noteborn in The Chalet School in Exile, Stephen^note, Charles, Michael^note, twins Felix and Felicity^note, Cecil, and a second set of twins, Geoff and Philippa (Phil). Len, Con and Margot are born in Exile, while the school is in Guernsey, and become spotlight characters as teens and Chalet School pupils. Len and Con follow in their mother's footsteps as Head Girl and editor of the school magazine respectively, while Margot is Games Prefect.

Always Identical Twins: Averted by the triplets, who start off identical, but their hair changes colour as they grow older. Plus both sets of Maynard twins are male / female twins.
Beautiful Singing Voice: Margot, like her mother, is called on to sing solos in school plays (sometimes to lyrics written by Con). All three triplets also play string instruments.
Big Sister Instinct: Len. Oh, Len. Practically ever since she is a baby, she is pigeonholed as the 'responsible one' and as the oldest Maynard child, she is often put in charge of the other Maynard children. She has a major one where Margot is concerned, protecting her from Jack's wrath and even lying to cover up for her in Triplets of the Chalet School after the bookend incident. Miss Annersley even calls her on it.
Big, Screwed-Up Family: One of the less favourable viewings of the Maynards, especially in the light of Theodora - which shows the screwed-up dynamic between Len and Margot - and Joey & Co in Tirol, where Mike has to be packed off to the Russells because of the possibility of Jack losing his temper and beating the crap out of him.
Bitch Slap: Margot gives Ted one in Theodora, and receives one in turn from Len.
Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The triplets, sort of - they all start off with red hair, but Con's turns black, Len's is chestnut and Margot's is red-gold.
Brilliant, but Lazy: Margot, particularly as a junior. She's bright, but dislikes hard work, and has a tendency to work in spurts and then sit back and cruise for a bit. Her sisters and Miss Dene both call her out on this in Changes. In Leader, she's regularly top of the form and a much harder worker, though it doesn't come to her naturally, and she's devastated when Miss Annersley threatens to relegate the entire form because of their poor form average.
Cloud Cuckoolander: Con. She has a tendency to daydream and let her imagination run wild, and Miss Annersley calls her on this in Two Sams at the Chalet School when Con's lack of supervision results in Samantha van der Byl injuring herself on an unauthorised ski run.
Cool Big Sis: Len is this to the younger Maynards. In A Future Chalet School Girl, Jack warns her that she should be setting an example to her younger siblings as they look up to her, and that if she breaks rules, they'll think it's OK because she did it.
Daddy's Girl: Of the triplets, Margot is the one who's closest to Jack (and hopes to become a doctor like him), and she's absolutely heartbroken when he refuses to speak to her for two weeks after finding out about her cruelty to Theodora.
Dead Guy Junior: Margot is named after Margot Venables, Jem's sister and Daisy's mum, who died during the school's time in Guernsey.
Delicate and Sickly: Like their mother, Margot and Phil both have health problems; Phil has mastoiditis as a toddler, while Margot is considered 'delicate' and is Put on a Bus to Canada for a while to help her grow stronger.
Early Personality Signs: When the triplets are babies, Joey can tell that Con is a dreamer and Margot is mischievous, and when they're toddlers, Len is shown to be the most responsible and the leader of the trio. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when Len ends up as Head Girl, Con is a Cloud Cuckoolander and Margot...has issues, to put it lightly.
Fiery Redhead: hoo boy, Margot. See Hot-Blooded below.
Flat Character: The Maynard boys and younger Maynard girls get very little characterisation compared to the triplets. Justified in the older boys' cases as they're away at school in England most of the time, and only really do anything in the 'holiday' books.
Freudian Trio: The triplets. Len, the oldest and most mature and responsible, is the Superego; Con is the Ego; and Margot, the youngest and most emotional of the three, is the Id.
Generation Xerox: While all three triplets have traits of Joey, Len is the best example of history repeating itself - she becomes Head Girl, has Samaritan Syndrome bordering on Chronic Hero Syndrome, and gets engaged to a doctor who is much older than her. Though at least she has university to go through first.
Hot-Blooded: Like her mother, Margot has a temper, but worse. She has some major anger management issues - she refers to her temper as 'my demon', and it gets her into major trouble in Theodora at the Chalet School, culminating in Len slapping her and Jack refusing to speak to her for two weeks. After that, she learns her lesson and tries her damnedest to control it, although she has a major relapse in The Triplets of the Chalet School and nearly brains Betty Landon with a bookend.
Ignored Aesop: Margot resolves to be good and conquer her devil after Mary-Lou's What the Hell, Hero? speech in Theodora, but in successive books, she's still losing her temper and even, in one instance in Triplets, throwing a bookend at another girl and knocking her out. Likewise, Con also gets into trouble with Miss Annersley when she daydreams in Two Sams and lets Samantha van der Byl use a ski run that she isn't qualified for.
Jerk Jock: Margot, when she becomes Games Prefect. Evelyn Ross in Challenge is one of many unlucky students on the receiving end of her nasty temper, and accidentally injures Lesley Anderson - the team's star player - after Margot shouts at her one too many times and she hits the ball too hard.
Man on Fire: Len in Carola Storms, when Grizel Cochrane is smoking and carelessly throws her match away, and Len's Chinese outfit catches fire. Luckily, Carola Johnstone is able to save her in time and she's not seriously hurt, other than a long scorch mark on one arm.
Massively Numbered Siblings: The Maynard family has enough children to start their own football team. And that's before you factor in wards such as the Richardsons, Marie-Claire de Mabillon and Erica Standish.
Middle Child Syndrome: Con has shades of this both in-universe and from a meta point of view, even though she's the middle of triplets. Of the three, she receives the least screentime and character development.
Only Known by Their Nickname: Len, Con and Margot are never called by their first names or their full middle names in the books, by the teachers or their parents. Len is not pleased when snooty new girl Prunella Davidson calls her 'Helena' in The Chalet School Does It Again.
Same-Sex Triplets: Len, Con and Margot, but unlike other fictional examples, they're not physically identical; they all start with red hair, but as they grow older, Con's goes dark and Margot's gets lighter, and Con and Len's eyes change colour to brown and grey respectively. Margot is also bustier than her sisters.
Sleepwalking: One of Con's biggest problems is that she does this a lot, especially when she's upset or stressed. In Carola, she has frequent nightmares after another girl tells scary stories and is found in the coal cellar one night after sleepwalking, and in Joey Goes to the Oberland, she even sleepwalks out onto the roof and Joey has to try and get her down. In Triplets, she has a particularly bad episode after she, Len and Michelle Cabran, a younger girl, are caught in a terrible blizzard and it's all they can do just to struggle back to school, and she has to stay with Winnie Embury for a few days to recover.
Spanner in the Works: Stephen in Jo to the Rescue, funnily enough. He's teething at the time, and he wakes Joey up during the night. While she's trying to soothe him, she goes downstairs and is confronted by a couple of thugs who have come to steal Phoebe's cello, and responds by throwing a pan of bacon in their faces.
Took a Level in Jerkass: Margot around the time of Theodora and the Chalet School. She goes from temperamental and merely mischievous to blackmailing Ted, throwing a bookend at another girl's head and knocking her out, and bullying her charges. Presumably this is to make her eventual vocation as a nun even more dramatic.

Margaret 'Madge' Bettany (later Russell)

First introduced in: The School at the Chalet

The woman who began it all. Madge is Joey's older sister and the founder and original headmistress of the Chalet School, originally known as 'Madame' by the pupils. Having previously visited the Tyrol on holiday, she sees it as an ideal place for Joey, as the mountain air will be good for her health. She retires as headmistress on marrying Jem Russell, but continues to take an interest in the school and even comes back temporarily in Rivals. She stays behind in Wales when the school relocates to Switzerland.

But Thou Must!: She pulls this on Joey in Jo Returns when Mlle Lepattre and Miss Stewart are both off sick and the school has a shortage of staff. Joey is reluctant to teach and Madge tells her it's up to her, but she makes a big point of telling Joey how much she owes the school. Joey realises she hasn't really got much of a choice in the matter and will end up doing it regardless.
Cool and Unusual Punishment: When Joey, Simone, Frieda and Marie put cornflour in the hair of a group of younger girls, Madge punishes them by making them wash each girl's hair clean (not an easy task in those days).
Nice to the Waiter: She's always polite and respectful to the Pfeiffen family, many of whom work at the Chalet School in the Tyrol years, and insists that the girls are as well. Marie Pfeiffen, one of the original school servants, is well aware of how privileged she is compared to her friends whose employers treat them badly. Madge also punishes Robin for throwing water over Eigen, Marie's little brother, who does odd jobs at the school.
Promoted to Parent: Acts a mother figure to Joey, along with Dick, after their parents die. The considerable age difference helps.
Put on a Bus: To Canada during the St Briavel's years, along with Margot Maynard. Though Madge and Jem do come back to England, their role in the series is greatly reduced once they stay in England while the School moves to Switzerland (and later, move to Australia), despite Madge being the founder of the School - probably because EBD could not see any more use for them once Jack became head of the Swiss Sanatorium and he and Joey effectively filled Madge and Jem's original role.
Red Oni, Blue Oni / Sibling Yin-Yang: The blue oni to Joey's red. She's much more serious, level-headed and responsible than Joey, and often despairs of her antics.
Stern Teacher: Not as much as Miss Wilson, but she does have her moments. And even Joey doesn't get a pass.
Tranquil Fury: Like Miss Annersley after her, Madge doesn't have to yell at her pupils to make them behave. A Death Glare and a few pointed words are usually sufficient.
Weight Woe: She considers going to a health farm to lose weight after Joey makes fun of her about it. Jem reassures her that he loves her just the way she is.

Sir James 'Jem' Russell

First introduced in: The School at the Chalet

The first of many doctors who marries a woman associated with the Chalet School, Jem meets Madge at the end of The School at the Chalet, and marries her a couple of books later. He runs a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients which becomes affiliated with the school and expands to deal with other illnesses, and which moves to the UK after the school is forced to leave the Tyrol. In Highland Twins, he receives a baronetcy for his services to medicine and becomes Sir James Russell.

Big Brother Mentor: Encourages Joey to develop her writing talents, and helps Madge keep her in line. (Joey's actual big brother, Dick, is in India.)
Hidden Depths: Exile reveals that he speaks Afrikaans, which he uses to converse with Cornelia's dad.
Meet Cute: How he and Madge get together. He rescues her, Joey and Grizel from a train crash.
Mr. Exposition: In Exile, concerning the situation with the Nazis and the Austrian government, for both the readers and the characters. He's very politically savvy due to his many contacts.
Papa Wolf: do not harm any of Jem's kids. As the Mystic M found out the hard way in The New Chalet School after they kidnapped Sybil, he will come after you and beat the shit out of you, even if you're a kid yourself.
The Patriarch: One of the main examples in the series. Although not as strict as Madge, he's the reason why Joey and Jack are so keen on training their kids to instant obedience (even babies). Jem is very firm about David not being picked up whenever he cries, amongst other things, and admires the Continental way of raising children.
Put on a Bus: To Canada during the St Briavel's years. Like Madge, he becomes increasingly Out of Focus in the Swiss years.
Rescue Romance: He meets Madge while he's helping the victims of a train crash in which she and Joey are involved. One book later, they're engaged.
You Are Too Late: Jem makes a very big point of telling the Balbini twins in The New Chalet School that because they were too busy kidnapping his daughter, they missed the chance to say goodbye to their dying mother.
Unfortunately, Maria, your foolish behaviour has brought its own punishment. Your mother asked for you repeatedly before she died, and she had to go with her last wish for you ungratified. You will always remember that. And the pity of it is that it need never have been.

The Russell children

Madge and Jem's children. In age order, they are: David^note, Sybil^note, Josephine (Josette), Aline (Ailie)^noteborn in Jo to the Rescue, and twins Kevin and Kester. Josette becomes Head Girl during the Swiss years.

Bratty Half-Pint: Sybil, partly due to her resentment at having to share her mother with various cousins, though she gets better (see Break the Haughty below). Ailie is one in the Swiss books, although she's cheeky rather than arrogant.
Break the Haughty: Sybil gets hit with this hard in Gay from China at the Chalet School after she accidentally spills boiling water on Josette. While the connection of this incident to Sybil's pride over her looks is tenuous, it does make her change her ways, as evidenced in Jo to the Rescue, to the extent where Sybil has a major complex about her looks as a teenager and hates being praised.
Feminine Mother, Tomboyish Daughter: Ailie turns out to be a tomboy, much to the very feminine Madge's despair.
Fiery Redhead: Sybil has red hair, and is far more temperamental than either of her sisters or David. When the older Bettany kids are living with the Russells, she and Rix are constantly fighting.
Flat Character: Like the Maynard boys, David and the twins do not really get much characterisation outside of David being sporty and wanting to be a doctor.
I Am Not Pretty: see Break the Haughty above. Sybil develops a complex about her looks after the kettle incident. When the horrible vicar's wife in Jo to the Rescue gushes about how pretty Sybil is, Joey has to intervene and Josette explains in a later book that it is a Berserk Button for her sister.
Like Father, Like Son: David plans to become a doctor like his father.
Put on a Bus: Sybil and Josette both go to Australia with their parents and meet local men out there. Sybil gets married in Australia in Adrienne, but the Maynards are unable to attend the wedding as the triplets have exams and Phil has mastoiditis.
Why Couldn't You Be Different?: Madge admits in a letter to Joey in A Future Chalet School Girl that she always wanted a sweet, domesticated daughter, but none of them are, especially Ailie. Robin also tells Ailie in Adrienne that Ailie is a 'disappointment to her mother'. To her credit, Ailie just laughs it off and says that's just who she is.
Worst Aid: When Sybil accidentally spills boiling water on Josette in Gay from China, she panics and tries to get Josette's clothes off. Unfortunately, when she takes Josette's vest off, quite a bit of Josette's skin sloughs off as well.

The Bettany family

Madge's twin brother Dick - who receives the least screentime of the three Bettany siblings - his Irish wife Mollie, the daughter of his boss in India, and their children. In age order, they are: twins Margaret and Richard, aka Peggy and Rix^note, Bridget (Bride)^note, Jackie^note, twins Maeve and Maurice, and Daphne. Both Bride and Peggy are Head Girls during the St Briavel's years, with books named after them, while Maeve becomes Head Girl during the Swiss years.

A Day in the Limelight: Peggy and Bride in Peggy of the Chalet School and Bride Leads the Chalet School respectively.
Big Fancy House: The Quadrant in Devon, which Dick inherits.
Book Dumb: Maeve, who freely admits that she's not at all academic and just muddles along, and has no hope of getting into university.
Disproportionate Retribution: In Peggy of the Chalet School, Mary-Lou and her friends speak Regency English in response to prefects coming down too hard on the use of slang. Peggy, who is Head Girl at the time, responds by essentially making them act like Regency girls; they're forced to write down as much as they can remember from the Sunday sermon, not allowed to have jam with their bread or go to the Saturday night dance, and they have to do Regency activities like going for supervised walks, sewing while being read to, and learning their catechism. Even the prefects find it a bit much.
Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: Both Peggy and Bride find it difficult to understand the mindsets of Eilunedd Vaughan and Diana Skelton respectively. Elfie Woodward even says as much in Bride Leads. Bride also laughs off suggestions from Elfie and Nancy that Diana was clearly angry with her punishment and might want revenge on Bride for making her apologise in front of the school, and tells them they're being paranoid. As it turns out, they were right to be worried.
- In Changes, when Miss Annersley tells Bride that Diana has been taken out of the school after her father found out she was pawning her mother's jewellery to pay off gambling debts, Bride is horrified. She simply can't imagine how or why anyone would do something like that and says that she would have asked her parents for help. Miss Annersley responds that Diana has been brought up very differently.
Heroic BSoD: Bride has a major one in Bride Leads when Diana Skelton and Marian Tovey smash up her Head Girl's study in revenge for Bride making Diana apologise publicly.
Manly Tears: Shed by Dick in Rivals when he finds out that Joey's life is no longer in danger.
Massively Numbered Siblings: There are seven Bettany kids. Not as many as Joey and Jack, but still a lot. However, the four older Bettany children spend a good part of their childhood living with Madge and Jem in the Tyrol and then in the UK, while Mollie and Dick are in India with the twins. This causes a lot of friction between Maeve and Maurice and their older siblings when Dick and Mollie return to Britain and the whole family move in together.
Plain Jane: Bride, the token plain one out of the three older sisters. One character comments in Changes that it looks like the Bettanys might have three attractive daughters one day instead of two.
Proper Lady: Peggy, especially in contrast to the rambunctious Winterton sisters in Peggy. Much is made of the neatness of her hair and outfit. (Funnily enough, she later ends up marrying their older brother.)
Reasonable Authority Figure: Dick, who's considerably more laid-back than either of his brothers-in-law. He and Mollie are a match made in heaven, as she's pretty chilled herself.
Sibling Yin-Yang: Peggy and Rix are like this as children. Rix is chatty and argumentative and often gets in fights with Sybil Russell, who makes fun of him for 'only being a cousin'. Peggy, on the other hand, is quiet and docile.
Team Mom: Peggy is this for her sisters. Bride is relatively OK with it, but Maeve isn't and Bride finds herself having to mediate between them, such as when she catches Maeve and her friends doing jujitsu in Wrong and deals with it herself, as she knows Peggy will come down harshly on Maeve. Peggy even plays a Chinese mother goddess in the Willow Pattern pantomime in Does it Again.
Tempting Fate: Bride does this in Changes when she states near the end of the book how surprised she is that the term's gone by without any incidents...and soon after, the Dawbarn twins and their friends have a midnight feast in an orchard, rouse some pigs who've been temporarily housed there, and wake up the whole school. Bride herself lampshades this.
Tomboy and Girly Girl: Peggy's friendship with Dickie Christy is this. She's the smaller and more feminine of the two. They even get cast as King Neptune and his wife in Joey's water pageant.
True Companions: Bride and Elfie Woodward, and to a lesser extent, Nancy Chester, Tom Gay and Julie Lucy as well.
When You Coming Home, Dad?: Peggy, Rix, Bride and Jackie see very little of their parents in their early years, although Dick and Mollie do come over to visit when Dick is on leave. In Tom, Mollie and Dick return to the UK with Maurice and Maeve, and the family later move into the Quadrant together after Dick inherits it.

The Staff

In general

Cool Teacher: Miss Ferrars, Miss O'Ryan, and several others. As an aside, one notable aspect of the series is that mistresses are more humanised than in other girls' school fiction - they're more rounded and often very human characters with back stories, lives and screentime away from the pupils, rather than being mere wallpaper.
Long Runner: Miss Annersley, Miss Wilson, Mlle de Lachenais, Mr and Miss Denny, Frau Mieders and Matron have all been at the Chalet School since the Tyrol days, and are still going strong in the Swiss years, although Miss Wilson is Commuting on a Bus after she becomes head of St Mildred's.
Meet Cute: Both Miss Burn and Miss O'Ryan meet their future husbands, Dr Phil Graves and Dr Eugen Courvoisier, when they help to rescue girls who had fallen into bodies of water (Miss Burn in Carola Storms the Chalet School when Signa falls into Bosherston Lily Pond, and Miss O'Ryan in Does it Again when Margot falls into Lake Lucerne).
Not So Above It All: The staff aren't above trolling the girls, such as the song in 'Mrs Jarley's Waxworks' show in Lintons, or dressing up as demons and chasing them around the school (yes, really) in Mary-Lou.

Mademoiselle Therese/Elise Lepattre

First introduced in: The School at the Chalet

A friend of Madge Bettany, Simone Lecoutier's cousin, and one of the founding members of the Chalet School. She takes over as headmistress when Madge marries Jem, but is forced to retire due to an unnamed illness.

Adults Are Useless: In Eustacia, she asks why Eustacia has run off and why nobody told her that Eustacia was upset. This is after Mlle Lepattre herself saw Eustacia crying herself to sleep.
Killed Off for Real: Dies in Exile after a long period of illness.
Inconsistent Spelling: Is it 'Lepattre' or 'Lapattre'? EBD has used both spellings.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: She does not mince her words when telling Thekla von Stift just how horrible she has been in Lintons before expelling her:
"Ah, if it were only a little fault - or only one thing! But it is an accumulation of things, Thekla, all ending in this big thing. No; you need plead no more, for I shall not listen to you. I cannot do it. The Being to Whom you must now go is God, Whom you have hurt by your wickedness far more than even Joyce or Josephine. You are untrustworthy and deceitful. Last term you showed us that you were bad-tempered and selfish. At the beginning of this term you proved yourself greedy, and you end with this wicked plan of revenge against a girl who had not harmed you at all. What is worse, to make for the success of your plan you thought to use a girl who is two years younger than you and whom you had called your friend. If you had succeeded, it would in all probability have meant the death of Mrs Linton. I want you to think of that, Thekla - to remember that it is only by God's mercy that you are not, indirectly, at least, a murderess."

Miss Hilda Annersley

Teaches English and Scripture/Religious Education. She takes over from Mlle Lepâttre as co-head with Miss Wilson in The New Chalet School and stays in the job until the end of the series, although she's out of commission for a few books during the war years, thanks to a bus crash.

As the Good Book Says...: She reads the story of Lazarus to Joey in Highland Twins after Joey receives a telegram about Jack's death. It also acts as a bit of Foreshadowing, as the telegram turns out to be a mistake. She also reminds Bride of what Jesus said about casting the first stone when Bride is outraged about Diana Skelton pawning her mum's jewellery.
Badass Teacher: In "Redheads at the Chalet School", she refuses to reveal that Flavia Letton - a policeman's stepdaughter, who is hiding from a gang - is a student in the School while held at gunpoint.
Berserk Button: Bad grammar, overuse of certain words - she ticks Len off for using the word 'marvellous' too much in Excitements and people using 'can' when they mean 'may'.
Bus Crash: Is in a literal one, along with Miss Edwards, Miss Wilson and Mademoiselle de Lachenais, which kickstarts the Tyrant Takes the Helm plotline of Gay from China when Madge has to find a temporary replacement. One fill-in novel, Hilda Annersley, Headmistress by Lesley Green, has been written about Miss Annersley's experiences of the crash, and about her life in general and how she came to be a teacher.
Hidden Depths: She's a pretty good hairdresser/stylist. She gives both Joey and Ted Grantley advice about how to wear their unruly hair, and even does Ted's hair for her and shows her how to stop it getting in her face. She's also revealed to be a fan of the Just William stories in Lintons.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives many of them to wayward girls throughout the series, albeit offscreen. Whatever she says always hits home, though, often resulting in tears from the more sensitive girls, and even the tougher girls are left feeling much smaller afterwards.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Especially when compared to the likes of Miss Bubb and Miss Browne of St Scholastika's. She comforts plenty of girls in distress, allows Flora and Fiona to see Joey after she crosses the Despair Event Horizon and Fiona offers to use her psychic powers, and is very strict about girls not overworking. Only one girl has been expelled under her, and said girl wasn't just a massive Jerkass, she also committed an act of treason which would have made her seriously unpopular with the other girls and Miss Annersley booted her out for her own safety.
Tranquil Fury: Is a mistress of this, coupled with a Death Glare. She doesn't need to shout at pupils to intimidate them - even the worst girls sit up and pay attention when Miss Annersley is pissed off.

Miss Helena (Nell) Wilson (Bill)

First introduced in: Eustacia Goes to the Chalet School

Teaches Geography and Science. She and Miss Annersley are co-heads of the school. In The Chalet School and the Oberland, she becomes Head of the finishing branch, St Mildred's.

Badass Teacher: In The Chalet School In Exile, when she leads a group of girls to safety through a secret passageway, on the run from a group of Nazis.
Character Filibuster: Her speech about the importance of girls learning homemaking skills in Camp, as it's every woman's destiny to keep house and raise children, and women who can't or won't are clearly deficient and should be pitied, and that emancipation from drudgery is a lot of old nonsense (despite the fact that she's an unmarried science teacher and a university graduate herself).
Commuting on a Bus: She becomes head of St Mildred's, the finishing branch of the Chalet School at Welsen, and appears much less in the series as a result, though she isn't completely written out.
Deadpan Snarker: Although all teachers (and Matey) have their moments of snarkiness, Bill in particular has a reputation for being very snarky and sarcastic, and students are careful not to anger her as a result.
Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Con Stewart in the Tyrol years, and with Miss Annersley in the war/St Briavels years.
Locked into Strangeness: Happens to her in The Chalet School in Exile during the escape from the Nazis. Her hair was chestnut originally, but by the time she gets out of the passageway, she's a girl with Mystical White Hair.
Spotting the Thread: How she figures out that Thekla is lying about why she was out of bed in Lintons. Thekla claims she heard Joyce Linton walking in the corridor, despite Joyce being barefoot, and got up to investigate. Miss Wilson sends for Margia Stevens, who is head of Thekla's dormitory, to ask about the girls' sleeping habits and Margia confirms that Thekla is a heavy sleeper. She also states that she did not hear any footsteps, despite being a light sleeper herself. Miss Wilson asks Thekla how she, a heavy sleeper, managed to hear Joyce but Margia, a light sleeper, did not, and Thekla gets caught out soon after.
Troll: In Lintons, Joey falls on her by accident and Miss Wilson has an absolute field day making fun of her, and asking if Joey's out to get her, following Joey calling her an idiot in Camp.

Miss Grizel Cochrane (later Sheppard)

First introduced in: The School at the Chalet (as a pupil)

A troubled girl from the same Devonshire town as the Bettanys and Rosalie Dene, although she's a little older than Joey, and one of the first pupils of the Chalet School. Like many other girls throughout the series, she returns to teach, but unlike them, she hates her job and is deeply unhappy.

A Day in the Limelight: Head Girl is essentially Grizel's story, and details her character development as she learns to become less selfish, and grows into the position of Head Girl. At first, Miss Maynard and Madge argue over whether she's suitable for the job after she runs away to see the falls at Schaffhausen while Miss Maynard is looking after her, Robin and Joey, but when Madge gives her one last chance, Grizel makes the most of it and shows she can do the job after all.
Abusive Parents: Of the emotional / financial kind. Her father never told his new wife that he had a daughter, leading to Grizel's stepmother resenting her, and the Cochranes basically packed her off to the Chalet School to get her out of the way. Later, her father all but forces her to train as a music teacher, rather than a games teacher - which is what she really wants to do - and her parents refuse her access to her money until she's 35.
Because You Were Nice to Me: She's very close to Madge and Joey because the Chalet School was more of a home to her than her actual home, and because Madge showed her more kindness than her parents did.
Broken Bird: So, so much, particularly in the later books. Growing up with a repressive stepmother and father leaves her bitter and unhappy, causing trouble as a pupil - for instance, when she runs away after pranking the teachers, and nearly dies on a dangerous mountain - and often taking her anger out on her pupils when she becomes a teacher (see Abusive Parents above for why). She does find happiness eventually, after setting up a shop in New Zealand and meeting her future husband on a cruise, but it takes a long time.
Earn Your Happy Ending: And she does, in Reunion.
Foil: To Joey, particularly when the two are pupils. She's grumpy and cynical where Joey is idealistic, lives in the present and is unimaginative while Joey dreams about the past and writes stories, and is patriotic while Joey, having travelled more, is cosmopolitan.
Game Face: As described in Head Girl:
She vowed to herself that she would make good in this term of trial. She would not let Miss Bettany - the old name persisted in spite of the fact that Miss Bettany had been Mrs. Russell for nearly six months now - Miss Maynard, or Mademoiselle down, come what might. In her grim determination she clenched her hands and squared her jaw, robbing her face of half its beauty, but giving it an added character.
Intergenerational Friendship: With Mary-Lou in Reunion.
My God, What Have I Done?: Is left shaken after she accidentally sets fire to Len's outfit with a cigarette in Carola Storms. Luckily, Joey knows it was an accident and forgives her, only telling her to 'count to a hundred' the next time she gets angry (Grizel was in a bad mood and not thinking straight because of a letter from her father.)
My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels: In The School at the Chalet, she freaks out a hairdresser in strictly Catholic Tyrol by asking him to wash her hair in 'heiliges Wasser' (holy water), when she actually means 'heisses Wasser' (hot water).
Pet the Dog: In Gay from China, she recognises that Jacynth Hardy is a talented musician and is very supportive of her, allocating a practice room for her to use and allowing Gay to teach her.
Sadist Teacher: At least, for some pupils, especially the ones who are terrible at music. Many pupils fear her because of her temper. She does have an excuse, though - she doesn't even want to do the job.
Took a Level in Kindness: In Reunion, when she notices that Mary-Lou is feeling better after coming to terms with her grief over her mother's death. Joey thinks that the old Grizel would never have noticed something like that.
Vitriolic Best Buds: With Joey in the Tyrol years.

Miss Bridget (Biddy) O'Ryan (later Courvoisier)

First introduced in: The Chalet School and Jo (as a pupil)

An Irish orphan who a group of Middles find and decide to adopt. Her mother and stepfather were killed in a car crash. The Middles put her up in the games shed and steal food for her, but are found out when Joey gets suspicious and finds Biddy in the shed. She is officially adopted by the school Guide Company and is one of the school's success stories, later returning as History teacher before Quitting to Get Married in the Swiss years.

Character Development: Goes from a mischievous little prankster who's in and out of trouble to a well-loved History mistress.
Funetik Aksent: In the earlier books, though it's dropped as she gets older. 'I'm to sleep with her for a week on end' becomes 'Oi'm to slape with her for a week on end', for instance.
Heartwarming Orphan: She starts off as this. A group of Middles find her wandering around on her own after her parents have been killed in a car crash, and decide to adopt her. Their plan fails when Joey finds Biddy in a shed, but the school decide to keep her and Miss Wilson is appointed as her guardian.
Oireland: She's constantly described as speaking in a thick Kerry brogue which is 'as rich as cream', and even as an adult, she still lapses into Irish-isms. She's also Genre Savvy about local legends and fairytales. See The Storyteller below.
Rescue Romance: With Dr Eugen Courvoisier, who she meets when Margot falls into Lake Lucerne in The Chalet School Does It Again. The two end up married.
The Storyteller: One of her major talents, both as a student and as a teacher. As a pupil, she tells Irish ghost stories, which backfires horribly in New House when one girl has nightmares. As a teacher, she has a gift for recounting historical events which captivates the pupils' attention.

Miss Nancy Wilmot

First introduced in: The Chalet School and the Lintons (as a pupil)

A former pupil of St Scholastika's, the rival school introduced in The Rivals of the Chalet School. She and Hilary Burn are the only former St Scholastika's pupils to return to the Chalet School as teachers; she teaches Maths. She returns as a teacher in The Chalet School and Barbara.

Ascended Extra: While she's only a minor character as a pupil, she features much more in the books when she comes back as a maths teacher.
Characterization Marches On: As a schoolgirl, she was lazy and had no particular fondness for maths...and ends up teaching it when she comes back. She's also more responsible, though still one of the more laid-back teachers.
Huge Schoolgirl: Often described as 'big' and/or 'sturdy' (though in real life, 10 stone actually isn't that heavy for someone who is 5ft 10 tall!)
New Transfer Student: She's one of many pupils who join the Chalet School from St Scholastika's in The New Chalet School when their headmistress retires and the two schools merge.
Those Two Girls: With Kathie Ferrars in the Swiss books.
You Are in Command Now: In Challenge for the Chalet School, she temporarily takes over as acting headmistress when Miss Annersley goes to a conference. She's only too glad to hand back the reins at the end of the book.

Miss Kathie Ferrars

First introduced in: A New Mistress at the Chalet School

A cheerful young geography teacher who joins in the Swiss years and becomes best friends with Miss Wilmot. She also introduces Spot Supper, a fun meal where the girls and teachers eat bangers and mash, make speeches and sing songs.

A Day in the Limelight: In New Mistress. She's notably the only mistress who has a book dedicated to her.
Genki Girl: Is very cheerful and energetic, in contrast to the more laidback Miss Wilmot.
Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Miss Wilmot. Some fans write them as being more than friends, especially given some of the scenes between them in Challenge when Miss Ferrars comes down with acute appendicitis during a class.
Jerkass Has a Point: Mary-Lou might be a heroine and the second coming of Joey, and the other teachers are used to her, but Miss Ferrars is still a teacher, in a position of authority, and is new to the school and not familiar with Mary-Lou's manner and the fact that she doesn't mean any harm in it. It's understandable that she would be annoyed with Mary-Lou being over-familiar and answering questions for other girls, and see her as a nuisance.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In New Mistress, she proposes Yseult Pertwee as Mary-Lou's understudy in the school play, as Yseult is desperate to play Herod - a role which has been given to Mary-Lou as she's been at the school longer - and has experience acting. Unfortunately, Yseult becomes so obsessed with the play and the chance to play Herod that she plots to injure Mary-Lou and take her part, although her plan fails thanks to a dose of Laser-Guided Karma.
Reasonable Authority Figure: She originally punishes Margot for throwing a sparkler on the floor in prep by not allowing her to go home and prepare for the triplets' birthday party, instead making her go home later with the guests. However, she changes her mind when she realises it would be unfair on Len and Con, and both of them are upset about the prospect of Margot not being there.
Save Our Students: She's dropped in at the deep end in New Mistress by being given the experimental new Inter V form, a form for girls whose work is not up to Fifth Form standards, but who are too old for lower forms, or girls who are between removes. Said form contains Yseult Pertwee, whose work is extremely poor, Francie Wilford, and a few other difficult girls, but Miss Ferrars manages to keep them in line. In Two Sams, she and Miss Stone swap forms; Miss Stone despairs of her lazy, sports-mad form and Miss Annersley suggests Miss Ferrars swap with her because of her sparky personality and love of sports. It pays off.
Took a Level in Badass: In Althea, when she jumps from one speeding motorboat to another in attempt to rescue two boys. No, really.

Matron/'Matey'

First introduced in: The Head Girl of the Chalet School

Apron Matron: But of course. She's got a kind heart under that tough, no-nonsense exterior.
Brutal Honesty: She tears Joey's first attempt at a book to shreds (not literally) in Jo Returns, pointing out that the heroine and the villain are both a massive Cliché Storm. She does, however, also tell Joey that some of her other characters are well written, and she should focus on writing realistic schoolgirl characters. It pays off.
Cool Old Lady: Is respected (and sometimes feared) by both teachers and pupils, and is considerably older than most of the staff.
Everyone Calls Her "Barkeep": Very rarely is she addressed by her first name (it's Gwynneth). Most of the staff generally know her as 'Matron' or 'Matey'. Joey even introduces her to Janie Lucy in Exile as 'Matey'. This may be because her status among the school's staff is lower than that of the teachers (though she's still respected by staff and girls alike).
Neat Freak: Matey has a very specific way of making beds and insists that the girls all do it that way, and also conducts regular dormitory and drawer inspections. If your drawers are untidy, expect her to drag you out of class to tidy them (which also has the handy effect of annoying whoever is teaching you at the time).
Pet the Dog: In Mary-Lou of the Chalet School, she shows a group of pupils some pictures of Mademoiselle Lepâttre, saying that she wants to keep her memory alive, as most of the girls won't have known about her (although Betsy Lucy remembers her sister Julie mentioning Mademoiselle when they were little). She also says:
"She wasn't much to look at, but she was a saint, one of the unknown ones. Madame herself would tell you that if it had not been for Mademoiselle, she could never have done all she did."
Pintsized Powerhouse: She's often described as short and wiry, but is physically strong enough to lift girls and carry them around (as Emerence finds out the hard way in Shocks).

Notable Pupils - Tyrol Era

Simone Lecoutier (later De Bersac)

First introduced in: The School at the Chalet

Mademoiselle Lepattre's young cousin, who accompanies her, Joey, Madge and Grizel to the Tyrol and is one of the Chalet School's first pupils. She has a huge crush on Joey and tends to be possessive, though she grows out of it. After graduating from the Sorbonne, she returns to the Chalet School as a maths teacher, before marrying Andre de Bersac. She temporarily comes back to teach during World War 2. Her daughter Tessa is a Chalet School pupil in the Swiss years.

Big Fancy House: She and her husband Andre inherit one in Joey Goes to the Oberland from one of Andre's relatives, and the Maynards stay there to break up their journey.
Characterization Marches On: In the Tyrol books, she's oversensitive and weepy. In the war era, when she's older, she's bordering on The Stoic. Joey thinks this is a combination of Mademoiselle Lepattre's death, becoming a teacher and her husband being at war.
Clingy Jealous Girl: Starts off as one, even going so far as to cut her plaits off to get Joey's attention, and getting visibly upset whenever Joey makes friends with other people. Fortunately for Joey, Simone does grow out of it.
Hot-Blooded: She's highly sensitive and tends to burst into tears a lot, particularly at the beginning of the series. She calms down when she's older, though.
The Smart Girl: The most academic out of the Quartette, and the only one who goes to university, a rare thing for a woman in those days. It's also because she's less well off than the other three and needs to get a job to support her family.

Frieda Mensch (later von Ahlen)

First introduced in: The School at the Chalet

One of the first local pupils at the Chalet School, who arrives in a group along with her older sister Bernhilda. Her father, Herr Mensch, is a useful contact for Madge as he gives her information and advice about life in the Tyrol. She later marries Bruno von Ahlen, a doctor turned bank worker, and their daughter Gretchen attends the Chalet School in Switzerland.

Beware the Nice Ones: She may look like a fairytale princess, and she may be gentle and quiet, but it's not a good idea to make her angry. The younger kids are in awe of her because she's reputed to have a very sharp tongue.
Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Is kind, gentle and good with younger children, and rarely gets angry.
Harp of Femininity: She plays the harp - probably the most notable character in the series to do so, as most Chalet School musicians either play the piano, violin, flute or cello - and is one of the more feminine members of the Quartette due to her traditional Tyrolean background.
Meaningful Name: Her first name means 'peace'. As EBD points out, it's an appropriate name for her as she tends to be the peacemaker of the Quartette.
Not So Above It All: Even she gets involved in the hair flouring prank in Rivals, much to Madge's shock.
Team Mom: Her role within the Quartette. She and Marie are also the Blue Oni to Joey and Simone's Red.

Marie von Eschenau (later Countess von und zu Wertheim)

First introduced in: The School at the Chalet

Frieda's cousin and the daughter of an army officer. One of the 'Hochgeborene' (high-born) pupils of the Chalet School, although she certainly doesn't act like it. Has an older sister, Wanda. She and her husband Eugen are forced to flee to America after the Anschluss.

Berserk Button: Do not insult her family.
Beware the Nice Ones: Like Frieda, Marie is generally a very kind and peaceful person, but she is not someone to be messed with. Thekla von Stift found that out the hard way in Exploits of the Chalet Girls.
Big Fancy House: When she becomes a countess, she lives in an actual castle.
Blue Blood: The daughter of an Austrian Graf, or count, and one of the few upper-class pupils. Unlike her distant cousin Thekla, though, she's not a snob at all and is more Spoiled Sweet.
Not So Above It All: She teases Jack in Jo to the Rescue about his hair, claiming he's going bald.
Ojou: Is considered to be the most beautiful girl in the school, often compared to a fairytale princess because of her long, curly blonde hair (which lands her the starring role in school plays), and is from an upper-class family. She later marries an aristocrat, Count Eugen von und zu Wertheim.
Shipper on Deck: To Joey and Jack, if her reply of "Don't you?" to Joey saying she doesn't know any potential husbands is anything to go by.

Cecilia Marya Humphries / The Robin

First introduced in: Jo of the Chalet School

The daughter of army captain Ted Humphries and a Polish woman who died of tuberculosis, and the school baby in the early years. Poor health is hereditary in her family and as a result, she requires a lot of care and attention from Jem, who carefully monitors her daily activity. She becomes a little sister figure to Joey and is later adopted by the Russells. As an adult, she becomes a nun and moves to Canada, then France.

Beware the Nice Ones: Robin may be small, cute and frail, but she has her moments. In Exile, she shields an old Jewish man from a bunch of Nazi thugs attacking him, knowing full well that this puts her at risk, and copes remarkably well with the escape from the Nazis, considering her poor health. Later, in Adrienne, she pulls a Big Damn Heroes to save Adrienne from her evil landlady.
Funetik Aksent: She starts off with one due to her poor command of English (she grew up speaking French at home), pronouncing 'the' as 'ze' and calling Joey 'Zhoey', but loses it as she grows older.
Happily Adopted: By Jem and Madge, after her father is killed in a climbing accident.
Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Particularly as a child. The worst thing she does is pour water over Eigen (one of the school servants), and a gentle scolding from Madge is enough to make her repentant.
Kick the Dog: She doesn't do it herself, but being mean to her is considered to be an act of dog-kicking. The already unpopular Matron Webb gets sacked in Princess for locking her in a room, for instance.
Magic Music: A rare non-fantasy example. When Joey is critically ill after falling through ice in Rivals, Robin insists on singing 'The Red Sarafan', a Russian folk song, to her in the hope that it might make her better and get her out of her delirium. And it does.
Morality Pet: Acts as one to Joey. Sometimes, Joey will sic her on 'difficult' girls such as Gwensi Howell (The Chalet School Goes to It) or Zephyr Burthill (Jo To The Rescue).
Only Known by Their Nickname: She's the Robin - or later, just 'Robin' - from day one when she comes to the school, although she does take the name of Soeur Marie-Cecile when she becomes a nun.
Plucky Girl: Despite her health problems, the escape from the Nazis and losing both her parents, she manages to remain relatively cheerful.
Put on a Bus: Once she becomes a nun, she pretty much vanishes from the series, though she does appear in Adrienne.
Silk Hiding Steel: Under that adorable exterior, she's one hell of a Determinator, especially as an adult. Just ask Adrienne Desmoines.
Spoiled Sweet: Despite being petted and babied by Joey and being treated as the school baby, she doesn't become a brat as a result and is a very sweet and well-behaved child. When Elaine Gilling shoves her away in Rivals, her first reaction, rather than throwing a tantrum, is to wonder if she's been 'naughty'.
Too Good for This Sinful Earth: You'd think Robin would be this trope, but amazingly she averts this by surviving into adulthood, although she has a few health scares as a child.
Universally Beloved Leader: Everyone loves the Robin in the early years (except Matron Webb), and when she's older, she's a much-loved prefect and Head Girl.
Wise Beyond Their Years: Is very thoughtful, perceptive and mature as a child / teenager, and handles the escape from the Nazis much better than Joey.

Princess Elisaveta of Belsornia (later Mrs Helston)

First introduced in: The Princess of the Chalet School

The daughter of Crown Prince Carol of Belsornia and the titular Princess, who joins the Chalet School on her family doctor's recommendation.

Chekhov's Skill: She joins the school Guide company and learns signalling and woodcraft. This comes in handy later when she is kidnapped by her insane cousin Cosimo, as she leaves signs and lays a trail for would-be rescuers to find her.
Fallen Princess: She's forced to flee Belsornia during the war when the Nazis invade and escapes across Europe with her children and maid. When she gets to the UK, she works as a charwoman in Wales to support herself and her family, and registers as 'Mrs Helston', taking her husband's mother's name.
I Just Want to Be Normal: One of the reasons why she goes to the Chalet School. The royal family's doctor is worried by how ill she looks and how serious she is, and Elisaveta herself is desperate to make friends her own age and not have to be in princess mode all the time. Madge keeps it quiet about her being a princess as she worries the girls might be too formal and awkward around her, especially the Austrians, but it gets out anyway and the majority of the girls aren't bothered, and just accept her as one of their own.
Loved by All: Elisaveta is loved by both her people and her classmates alike, and with good reason.
Omniglot: She's up there with Joey when it comes to languages, speaking English, French, Italian, Latin, German AND Belsornian.
Ruritania: Belsornia, her homeland, is basically this. It's situated in the Balkans, next door to Turkey.
Spoiled Sweet: She may be a princess, but she's very down-to-earth and enjoys hanging out with the other girls and getting dirty (much to her maid's despair). Vera Smithers' plot to bring the school into disrepute backfires because of this. Vera writes an anonymous letter to her and her father claiming that the pupils have insulted Elisaveta by not calling her 'Princess Elisaveta' and requesting that her father take her out of the school, but Elisaveta points out in a letter to Joey that she thinks the whole thing is stupid and would rather her friends didn't call her 'Princess'.

Cornelia Flower

First introduced in: The Head Girl of the Chalet School

Cornelia is a rich American girl raised by her millionaire single father. When she starts at the Chalet School, she is in and out of trouble and runs away to some local salt caves, where she is kidnapped by a crazy old man. She later becomes Head Girl in the war years. After returning to her homeland, she looks after the Pertwee sisters when their mother is ill and later dies.

Because You Were Nice to Me: Cornelia's mother died when she was little, and Mademoiselle Lepattre fills the role of a mother figure in her life. Mademoiselle's kindness helps Cornelia to become a better person, and she has a major Heroic BSoD in Exile when Mademoiselle dies.
Brutal Honesty: Cornelia is not one to mince her words. This often gets her into trouble.
Death Glare: Gives Thekla von Stift a few in Lintons when Thekla tries to lie her way out of trouble. Cornelia is having none of Thekla's bullshit and intervenes on behalf of Joyce, who is too scared to give Thekla away, when Miss Wilson interviews the three of them.
Dreadful Musician: Her attempts at playing the sax in New House have Joey and others in fits of laughter.
Eagleland: Starts off as a 'boorish' type when she comes to the school (and she's fat, too), but gradually mellows out over time.
Hypocritical Humour: When telling Mary Shaw off for using slang, she calls her a 'little ham-handed, left-footed bonehead'.
In-Universe Factoid Failure: Cornelia suggests starting a feud with the Saint Scholastika's girls in Rivals, and together with her group of friends, decides to start a branch of the Ku Klux Klan after reading about them in an Elsie Dinsmore book. According to Margia Stevens, the KKK's exploits consisted of 'beating people and sticking coffins against doors'. The reality was very, very different.
Lethal Chef: In The Chalet School and the Lintons, she uses garlic cloves in a cookery class when a recipe calls for cloves. As in the spice.
The Prankster: She wins over her classmates in Head Girl by playing tricks such as bringing (harmless) snakes into the classroom, and is part of the plot to spike the unpopular Matron Beasley's tea in New House. Some of her pranks do have a nasty side to them, though.
Those Two Girls: With fellow American Evadne (Evvy) Lannis.
Took a Level in Badass: Along with Violet Allison and Maria Marani, she rescues a pilot from a burning plane in Exile. Her eyes are damaged and she has to have her hair cut after it gets singed.
Took a Level in Kindness: Goes from an irritating spoilt brat to a much-liked and capable Head Girl.
Totally Radical: She and Evvy use a lot of bizarre American slang, often resulting in much docking of pocket money if a passing mistress hears. She does eventually grow out of this, though.

Eustacia (Stacie) Benson

First introduced in: Eustacia Goes to the Chalet School

Bookworm: Eustacia would rather read than play games. This gets her into trouble when she steals the key to the school library in order to go off and read on her own, and she is banned from the library as a result.
Break the Haughty: Basically, the entirety of Eustacia Goes to the Chalet School is this. Her arrogance and talebearing do not make her popular with either the other pupils or the teachers. Eventually, Eustacia has enough, throws a hissy fit and runs away, and has a nasty accident in the mountains when nearby rivers burst their banks and she passes out in a cleft, in an awkward position which severely hurts her back. This results in her being bedridden for a very long time.
Freudian Excuse: Part of the reason why Eustacia is such a Jerkass is because of how her elderly academic parents raised her - the narrative states that her mother tried out experimental child rearing practices on her, and when her father found out he was dying and had a week to live, he was more bothered about not being able to complete his book than the fact his death was going to leave his daughter an orphan. She also lives with an uncle and aunt who basically regard her as a nuisance.
Insufferable Genius: One of the earliest and most notable examples of this in the series. At least, until she has the accident.
Jerkass Has a Point: While Eustacia accidentally injuring Miss Wilson didn't help, she's right that she herself didn't cause the blizzard, not to mention that the party could have ended up stranded on the mountain even if Miss Wilson hadn't hurt her foot. It's also not her fault the Robin has made herself ill (and one could argue that if the Robin was so delicate that Joey going missing literally made her ill with worry, she should never have been on the expedition in the first place). And Napoleon Bonaparte, Joey's hero, did commit a lot of atrocities.
Meaningful Rename: After her accident, she is given the nickname of 'Stacie'. Joey even states that she sees 'Eustacia' and 'Stacie' as two different people, and that 'Stacie' is much more likeable than 'Eustacia' ever was. Eustacia herself says:
"Eustacia wasn't nice, as you say. But I know Stacie will do her best to be a real Chalet School girl now and always".
Pride: One of her greatest flaws. Even when she realises she's in the wrong, she's too proud to admit it and/or apologise.
Trigger: Being caught in floods/running water. It happens in Reunion and she has to be given Schnapps to calm her down, as she's very shaken.

Notable Pupils - Armishire Era

Daisy Venables (later Rosomon)

First introduced in: The New House at the Chalet School

When Joey and Frieda are killing time in Innsbruck, they bump into a little girl who overhears them speaking English and asks if they can help her mother, who is lost and can't speak German. That little girl is Daisy, Jem Russell's niece (her mum, Margot, is his sister), and she and her younger sister Primula go on to join the Chalet School as pupils while Margot works as matron at St Clare's House, before dying after the school's exodus to Guernsey. Daisy and Primula are subsequently adopted by the Russells. She is one of the leading characters at the school during the war years, and later goes on to train as a paediatrician, winning awards for her work.

Cool Big Sis: When she's a prefect, the girls (except Tom, at first anyway) love her. And with good reason, especially when she carries Elfie Woodward back to the school on her back in Tom Tackles the Chalet School, despite being in pain herself.
Dark and Troubled Past: All three of her brothers are dead, possibly from heat stroke as a result of the climate in Queensland; her father was an abusive alcoholic who prevented Margot from getting in touch with her family, and later died of a snake bite; and both she and Primula become ill themselves, causing Margot to move back to England.
- Disappeared Dad / Missing Mom: By the time the school has moved to Guernsey, both of Daisy's parents are dead.
Genki Girl: Is cheerful, carefree and energetic, in contrast to the calmer, more serious Robin.
Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: has blonde hair and is one of the nicest and most popular characters in the series.
Happily Adopted: By Jem and Madge after her mother dies. She and Robin, who is also an adoptee of the Russells, pretty much consider each other to be sisters.
Happily Married: To Laurie Rosomon. Their wedding is featured in the early chapters of Joey Goes to the Oberland.
Honor Before Reason: In Rosalie, she figures out that Rosalie Way must have gotten lost in the secret passage in the hedges at Plas Howell that appeared in Goes to It. Unfortunately, she can't tell the staff where it is as she and Beth Chester promised Gwensi Howell they wouldn't tell anyone about it, and has to ring Gwensi to ask her for permission. This is in spite of the fact that Rosalie has been missing for several hours, and the staff are all clearly on edge.
Power Trio: forms one with Beth and Gwensi in Goes to It. She's The Kirk, with Gwensi as The McCoy and Beth as The Spock.
Stay in the Kitchen: A particularly jarring example in Joey and Co in Tyrol. When Charles is taken ill with appendicitis, it's not Daisy who is asked to treat him, but Laurie, her husband - even though Daisy is an award-winning paediatrician.
Took a Level in Jerkass: In Rosalie, she has toothache and turns into the bitch from hell in a prep session, putting all the girls on edge. This is not helped by Vanna Ozanne falling off her chair and bumping into another girl, or Rosalie squealing after pricking her finger on a nib and then knocking her desk over when she gets up. Daisy lays into her and Rosalie loses it right back, running out of the room in tears. Daisy follows her and apologises, and Matron sends them both off to bed.
Wide-Eyed Idealist: So much so that when Joey receives a telegram in Highland Twins saying Jack has died, she cannot understand why God would take someone as good as Jack away from them.

The Lucy, Chester and Ozanne families

First introduced in: The Chalet School in Exile

The three Temple sisters - Janie Lucy, Elizabeth Ozanne and Anne Chester - and their families originally appeared in EBD's La Rochelle series. When the school moved to Guernsey, where the three families were living, Joey befriends Janie and her sisters, and as a result, the Ozanne twins and the older Lucy and Chester girls end up joining the school. Barbara and Janice Chester join during the Swiss years. Beth Chester and Julie and Betsy Lucy all become Head Girls.

A Day in the Limelight: Barbara Chester, in The Chalet School and Barbara.
All of the Other Reindeer: Beth is revealed as this in Exile. Her mother sends her to a local high school in Guernsey before the CS arrives, but does not allow her to mingle with the other girls there, accept invitations from them or invite them over, as she disapproves of them. As a result, the other girls think Beth is a snob and make fun of her, and she's miserable until she joins the Chalet School.
Characterisation Marches On: In the La Rochelle books, Barbara is a Spoiled Brat ill girl, but when she joins the Chalet School, she's much nicer. Admittedly she does have trouble doing this for herself, because of being so reliant on her mother - Matey has to remind her to clean up the bath after she's used it - but she soon becomes a member of Mary-Lou's Gang and is just like any other prefect in the later Swiss books.
Clear My Name: Barbara, with Vi Lucy's help in Barbara. Mary Woodley is jealous of her friendship with Vi (even though Barbara and Vi are cousins) and gets Caroline Sanders into trouble with Matron by taking a book out of Caroline's locker and leaving it on the floor. Caroline blames Barbara, and Mary immediately homes in on her and gets other girls to gang up on her. Vi is furious and tears the other girls a new one for picking on Barbara.
Dumb Blonde: while several blonde characters throughout the series - such as Daisy, Marie and Stacie - are major aversions, Nella and Vanna? Play it very, very straight. Of the three families, the Ozannes are the only one where none of the girls end up being Head Girl. Neither twin is particularly ambitious or intelligent, and both of them are in and out of mischief as Juniors.
Plain Jane: Janie, rather fittingly, compared to her beautiful older sisters (well, half-sisters really, as Janie has a different mother to Anne and Elizabeth). Betsy is this compared to Julie (who is described as 'handsome') and Vi (who is often described as the looker of the Gang), although she's a mixture of this trope and Ugly Cute.
Power Trio: Beth forms one with Daisy and Gwensi - see Daisy's entry above.
Quitting to Get Married: Julie Lucy is the daughter of a lawyer and plans to become a barrister, but in Future it's revealed that she is abandoning her career due to marrying a teacher at her brother's school.

Lavender Leigh

First introduced in: Lavender Laughs in the Chalet School

A Day in the Limelight: The title character in Lavender Laughs. She becomes completely Out of Focus afterwards and is only mentioned occasionally in later books.
Know-Nothing Know-It-All: She constantly mouths off in class about her experiences and the things she's seen, even claiming to know more than the teachers. However, her education is severely lacking as a result of never having been to school, and the only subject she's any good at is languages. She's kept in a lower form as a result.
Prone to Tears: Her aunt Sylvia describes her as a 'sensitive plant' and a 'clever, sensitive girl who worships beauty'. Miss Wilson is not impressed.
Regal Ringlets: She sports these when she first comes to the school. As part of her Character Development, she cuts them off at the end of the book.
Secret-Keeper: While Lavender is recovering from being pushed into a snowdrift by Joy Bird, Joy gets her alone and asks her if she's going to tell the teachers what Joy did to her. Lavender says she won't, but refuses to explain why. The reason is that she's taken Joey's words about standing on her own feet to heart.
Silent Treatment: Is sent to Coventry by her entire class after she hits another girl with a hockey stick. The other girls, including the nicer ones such as Peggy, refuse to speak to her unless absolutely necessary, until Biddy intervenes and warns them that their behaviour is getting into bullying territory.
Spoiled Brat: And HOW. Probably one of the worst examples in the series, thanks to her aunt overindulging her.

Flora and Fiona McDonald

First introduced in: The Highland Twins at the Chalet School

A Day in the Limelight: The Highland Twins in question in the book of the same name.
Creepy Child: Fiona definitely comes across as one due to her psychic powers and ability to 'see' people's deaths. On the plus side, she also uses it to help Joey. And she and Flora seem a bit too keen to recount gory stories about their clan's history to Joey.
Funetik Aksent: Both the twins and their big sister Shiena talk like this in the originals. For instance, "It is very kind of you, but we have some supper in our basket" is rendered as "It iss fery kint of you, put we haf some supper in our basket". Thankfully, the abridged versions cut it out.
Proud Warrior Race Girl: They're both very proud of their Highland background, to the point where they insist on travelling on the train in traditional Highland gear, and the badassery of their ancestors. They're also pretty good at handling guns.
Put on a Bus: To Canada, to live with Shiena and her family.
Tranquil Fury: Fiona gets like this when she's pissed off, as both Betty Wynne-Davies and Lavender Leigh find out. In fact, her whole feud starts with Betty after she responds to Betty mocking her and Flora's background by saying, "Don't mind the poor creature, Flora. She doesn't know any better. Poor thing. It is a pity, isn't it?"

Betty Wynne-Davies

Alpha Bitch: She was never the nicest pupil to begin with, but she becomes a major one by the time of Highland Twins at the Chalet School, due to breaking away from former best friend Elizabeth Arnett and taking a level in bitchiness as a result. She even has two Beta Bitches, Florence 'Floppy Bill' Williams and Hilda Hope.
Disproportionate Retribution / Manipulative Bitch: She responds to Fiona trapping her finger in a deckchair and making fun of her by [[spoiler:plotting to steal the Chart of Erisay, an important document containing secrets about the twins' home. Not only that, but she almost hands it over to a Nazi spy after he overhears her talking about it and corners her - luckily Joey has the chart at home. Not only that, but she plans to use the twins to get at Robin and Daisy as well, as she has a grudge against them.
Foil: To Elizabeth. Elizabeth is the one who comes up with ideas and Betty is the one who carries them out, both in The New Chalet School and Exile, but while Betty never matures, has few real friends and is in and out of trouble, Elizabeth - inspired by Miss Linton - becomes more mature, takes an interest in work and generally becomes nicer. Elizabeth ends up as a Head Girl, while Betty is the second girl to be expelled from the school.
Jerkass: One of the few to actually come from the Chalet School itself, rather than an outside school such as Tanswick or St Hilda's. It's quite telling that she's only the second girl to have been expelled, the first being Thekla von Stift.
Hair-Trigger Temper: One of the reasons why she and Elizabeth grow away from each other - Betty is very quick to anger, to the point where Elizabeth makes it clear in Goes to It that she's fed up of Betty's rotten temper. Later, when Fiona snarks her, Betty slaps her round the face.
Makeup Is Evil: Both she and Elizabeth get into trouble with Miss Everett and Miss Annersley in Goes to It for wearing lipstick and headscarves at school.
My God, What Have I Done?: At the end of Highland Twins, when Miss Annersley calls an emergency assembly to impress on the girls that talking about the Chart of Erisay could have potentially endangered several people's lives, and the Nazi spy who Betty met picks her out of an identity parade. She has a near breakdown when it hits home how dangerous her actions were.
Sympathy for the Devil: Expressed by both Miss Annersley in Highland Twins and Biddy O'Ryan - one of Betty's former friends - in Bride Leads. Although Miss Annersley expels Betty because of the sheer horror of what she did, she also does it because she knows that, had Betty stayed on at the Chalet School, the other girls would have made her life hell and she would have been miserable. She also knows that Betty's guardian, Mr Irons, could not care less about her and has almost nothing to do with her. After Betty goes to stay with Janie Lucy and then Mrs Graves, an old friend of her mother, she begins to reform.
We Used to Be Friends: With Elizabeth - see Foil above. Elizabeth moves on from Betty and makes other friends, and Betty does not take it well at all. Elizabeth blames herself for Betty's Slowly Slipping Into Evil and, rather tellingly, begs Miss Annersley to give her a chance while Florence refuses to have anything to do with Betty or even say goodbye.

Gabrielle 'Gay' Lambert

First introduced in: Lavender Laughs at the Chalet School

Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She has blonde hair and is a kind and loyal friend to Jacynth, looking after her when she joins the Chalet School, teaching her the cello and helping her cope with her auntie's death.
Have a Gay Old Time: Calling a child 'Gay' might have been acceptable in the '40s, but you could never get away with it now.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: After she returns to school, Gay comes down with German measles - and a large amount of pupils get it as well.
Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Miss Bubb punishes Gay for rudeness by banning her from going to see her brother Tommy and his wife for the last time before he's stationed in China. Gay responds by running away from school. Although Miss Wilson does give her a ticking-off - bear in mind that Gay is running away in wartime, on a dark night, which is potentially very dangerous - she also realises why Gay did what she did, and states that forbidding her from seeing her brother is just too cruel, considering he may never come home again.

Tom Gay

First introduced in: Tom Tackles The Chalet School

A vicar's daughter who has been raised like a boy, due to her father wanting a son. She has a very low opinion of other girls, believing them to be immature, wimpy and dishonourable (only to be proven wrong). She has a knack for carpentry, and her dolls' houses become the stuff of legends and are the centrepiece of school sales in the St Briavel's and Swiss years. After she leaves school, she becomes a missionary, working in deprived areas of London.

Bifauxnen: One of the few in the series, to the point where some fans have transgender headcanons for her.
Boyish Short Hair: Has her hair cut short, in a style more commonly seen on boys. Because of this, and because she's very tall, she always plays male roles in school plays.
Broken Pedestal: Daisy Venables is this for her after Tom assumes she grassed her up to Miss Linton for talking in prep. However, after Daisy carries an injured Elfie Woodward home, despite being in considerable pain herself, Tom realises she was wrong and admits it.
Female Misogynist: Has a lot of internalised misogyny and ideas about girls being underhand and having no sense of honour, in no small part thanks to her dad. The Chalet School shows her the error of her ways, though.
Gender-Blender Name / Only Known by Their Nickname: Her real name is not Thomasina as you might suspect, but Lucinda Muriel, and she hates it. Even the staff call her 'Tom'.
Hidden Depths: She's deeply religious, partly due to her upbringing as a vicar's daughter, and ends up becoming a missionary who works with deprived inner-city children and gives boys carpentry lessons.
Honor Before Reason: In spades. Tom has a very strict sense of honour and being a 'gentleman' which sometimes gets her into trouble, such as when Anne Webster makes signs in prep asking her for an eraser, and Tom says out loud that she'll give it to her, as she thinks making signs is sneaky. Unfortunately, Daisy hears her and tells her off. She also insists on going to Matron with Rosalie Way's blouse after sitting on it and refuses to let Rosalie put it in her dirty laundry bag, because she believes it would be underhanded otherwise.
Jumped at the Call: The reason why she becomes a missionary after leaving school. She realises it's her true vocation.
Not So Above It All: In Bride Leads, she and the other girls joke that Bride has gone mad after Bride suddenly has an idea and runs off, and grab a load of household implements to use as weapons in case Bride might be dangerous.
The Stoic: As befitting a girl who was raised like a boy, and has no time for 'girly' emotions or crushes.
Tomboy and Girly Girl: With Rosalie Way from The Chalet School and Rosalie onwards. They even play King Herod and Queen Elpis in a Christmas play.

Notable Pupils - St Briavels Era

Mary-Lou Trelawney

First introduced in: Three Go to The Chalet School

A Day in the Limelight: In her eponymous book, in which she helps troubled new girl Jessica Wayne at Joey's request.
Academic Athlete: She's not only bright, but she's a very good swimmer - she beats Tom, who's older and stronger, in a swimming race.
The Ace: She's good at sports, intelligent, popular with both girls and staff, a good leader, funny, charismatic, has a few Big Damn Heroes moments through the series and goes from an average-looking little girl into a beautiful young woman.
All Women Are Prudes: She gets embarrassed easily when trying to explain to Jack Maynard that Joan Baker talks about boys, and can barely get the word 'boys' out.
Big Damn Heroes: For Jocelyn Marvell in Challenge after Jocelyn runs away and gets lost in the snow.
Character Filibuster / Holding the Floor: Does this a lot throughout the series. One example is when she lectures Jessica Wayne about Jesus and The Power of Friendship, and how the Disciples were happy to share Jesus' friendship rather than keeping it to themselves.
Cool Big Sis: Clem Barras is this to her. In the Swiss years, the Maynard triplets see her as this, particularly when she's Head Girl.
Disappeared Dad: Happens to her twice. First, her father, an explorer and lepidopterist, is killed by Amazonian Indians while on an expedition in Brazil; although Mary-Lou does feel sad for her mother and grandmother, she finds it hard to mourn for him, as she has very few memories of him and mainly only knows him as a photograph. Secondly, her stepfather, Commander Carey, dies after an operation.
Genki Girl: And HOW. Although she has Clem to rein her in when she gets too cheeky.
Girlish Pigtails: Her trademark hairdo as a junior, which she nicknames 'Kenwigses' as a Shout-Out to the hairdos of the Kenwigs girls in Nicholas Nickleby.
- Important Haircut / Expository Hairstyle Change: When she becomes a senior in Mary-Lou, she decides to mark this by swapping her pigtails for a single pigtail. And then her head is shaved after the accident with the toboggan…and it grows back in curls.
Go-Getter Girl: One of Mary-Lou's most distinguishing character traits. She's one of the most proactive characters in the entire series and establishes herself very quickly as leader of her form, even later getting a special position (Head of the Middle School). One thing that many characters find out about Mary-Lou: she gets shit done.
Heroic Sacrifice: Not Mary-Lou herself, but her father, Professor Trelawney. It is revealed that he could have escaped when Amazonian Indians attacked his party, but he chose to stay behind to protect his friends and was killed as a result.
Huge Schoolgirl: She has a growth spurt after her accident and becomes one of these.
Lovable Alpha Bitch: One interpretation of her character. While she isn't a bully like Jack or Betty, she and her Gang do dominate their form, and being allowed in is considered an honour.
Mouthy Kid: And she gets away with it most of the time because, as others say, "it isn't cheek, it's Mary-Lou." However, it causes major conflict between her and Miss Ferrars, as the latter is new to the school and doesn't understand that Mary-Lou is like that with everyone and means no harm.
Nice Girl: One of the kindest characters in the series, and generally loved by everyone (except Phil Craven).
Phrase Catcher: "That's our one and only Mary-Lou," "it isn't cheek, it's just Mary-Lou," and, less often, "You'd have to be up early to get one past Mary-Lou."
Samaritan Syndrome: Like Joey, she's a 'champion butter-in' and takes it upon herself to deal with other girls' problems. Sometimes it works (with the triplets in Theodora, and with Jessica in Mary-Lou), and sometimes it backfires horribly (with Joan Baker in Problem, when Joan overhears Mary-Lou and Katherine Gordon talking about her and runs away).
Shipper on Deck: To Gillian Linton and Peter Young in Three Go.
Stepford Smiler: After her mother dies in Reunion. Joey knows Mary-Lou is bottling up her feelings and encourages her to let them out, which she later does.
Tap on the Head: Majorly averted in Mary-Lou - when Emerence crashes into her, slamming her into a tree, she receives a severe head injury and is unconscious for several days. She does get better, but it takes time.
What the Hell, Hero?: As Head Girl, she gives this to all three of the triplets in Theodora after things get out of hand (though the incident in question was mainly Margot's problem). It hits home, though Margot does have subsequent relapses.

Bride Bettany

See the entry under 'The Bettany family' above.

Emerence Hope

First introduced in: Shocks for the Chalet School

In Shocks for the Chalet School, Miss Annersley and Miss Dene get a lengthy telegram from a rich Australian man asking them to take care of his daughter. Miss Stewart, the former history teacher, also warns them that Emerence is trouble and sure enough, she causes a fair amount of chaos when she arrives. Later strikes up a friendship with fellow bad girl Margot Maynard.

Armor-Piercing Question: When Emerence stuffs a scarecrow in a drain in Shocks, Miss Annersley simply asks her, "Why am I not to trust you to be honest in your actions?" Emerence doesn't know how to answer, and breaks down in tears.
Awesome Aussie: Much stronger than she looks, terrorises the staff on the plane, and doesn't give a toss about rules. Though Miss Dene and Miss Annersley both manage to outdo her.
Heroic BSoD: Has a major one after injuring Mary-Lou. Her injuries are less severe, but she makes herself ill with crying, and Jack Maynard has to tell her several times to stop.
Informed Attribute: While Emerence is a huge pain in the arse in her debut book, and is in and out of trouble throughout her time at the Chalet School, it's debatable whether she's really one of the worst pupils the school's ever had, especially when it's had pupils who are outright bullies (Jack Lambert, Thekla, Ruth Wilson and Margot) - something Emerence has never done herself - traitors (Betty Wynne-Davies) or who have almost killed another girl (Margot again). She also becomes much nicer after the tobogganing incident in Mary-Lou.
Lady Swears-a-Lot: She's one of the more foul-mouthed students, as Mary-Lou finds out.
Land Down Under: The only Australian pupil the school has ever had, unless you count the Venables sisters (although they're regarded as British).
My God, What Have I Done?: Has a major episode of this in Mary-Lou of the Chalet School when her toboggan slams into Mary-Lou, knocking her into a tree and giving her a serious head injury. She is miserable and cries for ages until Jack tells her to snap out of it.
My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels: Her French composition is...special. She translates 'hen' as 'elle-coq' and 'haystack' as 'foin-colline'. (The correct words would be 'poule' and 'meule de foin'.)
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Her giving Margot an expensive clock as a present is what triggers the fall-out between the triplets in Theodora.
Obfuscating Stupidity: In Changes, she deliberately works well below standard in order to be demoted to Margot's form. Unfortunately, the teachers cotton on to what they're doing.
Pint-Sized Powerhouse: She's tiny, but surprisingly strong. Commander Christy is amazed at how muscular she is ("She's got the biceps of a female infant Hercules!")
Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: Emerence is generous, but has little idea of the value of money and a tendency to splash the cash, even more than the American girls. This causes problems when she buys Margot an expensive clock in Theodora (see Nice Job Breaking It, Hero above), even though Margot knows full well her parents don't like her having expensive gifts. Margot keeps the clock as a reminder of what happened.
Spoiled Brat: Her parents have never denied her anything and she has grown up without boundaries. As a result, she has a major disregard for school rules.
Too Dumb to Live: In A Chalet Girl from Kenya, she nearly gets herself killed when gathering moss at the edge of a cliff, knowing full well it was dangerous. Luckily, Mary-Lou, Jo Scott and Miss Wilmot manage to rescue her between them.
Toxic Friend Influence: As far as Joey is concerned. When Emerence and Margot become friends in Changes, Joey is worried that Emerence will be a bad influence on Margot.

Notable Pupils - Swiss Era

Len, Con and Margot Maynard

See the entry under 'The Maynard children' above.

Joan Baker

First introduced in: A Problem for the Chalet School

Rosamund Lilley's classmate and frenemy from back home. Ros gets a scholarship to the Chalet School, courtesy of Tom Gay's family, and Joan follows her after her family win the pools.

Blackmail: Threatens to reveal Ros's working-class background if Ros doesn't get her an invitation to Freudesheim. It fails, as Joey tells Ros that no-one will judge her over her family.
Delinquent Hair / Makeup Is Evil: Like Betty and her friends in the war years, Joan has a perm and wears make-up (and not the approved kind), which causes the other girls to view her as 'cheap'.
Huge Schoolgirl: Often described as 'big' by EBD.
Lady Swears-a-Lot: She has quite the potty mouth and gets into trouble for telling one student to 'go to hell', which in Chalet School terms is up there with telling someone to fuck off.
Lower-Class Lout: Is viewed this way by some of the girls at the CS, due to her background, swearing, lack of interest in prayers, and her hair, make-up and revealing dresses. This has caused some fans to view her as a Working-Class Hero (see YMMV section).
Nouveau Riche: Her family become this when they win the pools, enabling Joan to get a place at the Chalet School.
Took a Level in Kindness: She's quite the Jerkass when she transfers to the school, but after running away and a talk with Miss Annersley, she resolves to become a better person. She never does truly fit in, due to her background, but she and Ros do at least repair their friendship.
Toxic Friend Influence: As far as the Lilleys and the likes of Joey and Mary-Lou are concerned, anyway. One reason why Ros's parents are happy for her to go to the school is because they fear that Joan is a bad influence.

Nina Rutherford

First introduced in: A Genius at the Chalet School

The genius in question, Nina is a piano prodigy who has recently lost her father, and moves to England to live with her guardian, Sir Guy Rutherford. Nina's guardians want her to go to school, and she decides to join the Chalet School after meeting a group of girls on the train in Switzerland.

Daddy's Girl: Nina barely remembers her mother, but was very close to her father - himself a musician - and travelled everywhere with him, until he died rescuing a drowning child. She refuses to give up her piano and has to have it transported across Europe because her father left it to her, and it reminds her of him.
Determinator: Nothing will stop Nina from practising, no matter how crappy the piano, and Sir Guy and Lady Rutherford have to lock rooms to stop her going in and practising because they're too cold for her and make her ill. She eventually makes a deal with Lady Rutherford: she can have her own practice room as long as she keeps the fire going and cleans it herself, which Nina happily does.
Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: She's very pale, with long black hair, and looks pretty creepy when she's wearing mourning black.
Elegant Classical Musician: Of the non-sexual kind. She's considered to be the best musician the school's had yet, and that's saying a lot. After leaving the school, she turns professional and goes on concert tours.
No Social Skills: At first, although she does get better and makes friends. It's one of the reasons why Sir Guy is keen for her to go to school.
Teen Genius: Naturally. She's considered to be even more talented than Margia Stevens and Jacynth Hardy, both of whom went on to be professional musicians, and even has a go at composing her own pieces. The downside of this is that she hyperfocuses on her music to the detriment of everything else, and gets extremely upset when she can't practice.
This Is Unforgivable!: Says as much to Hilda Jukes when Hilda accidentally injures her hand during a game of leapfrog. Miss Annersley is not pleased and reminds Nina of the line in the Lord's Prayer about forgiving others.
Traumatic Haircut: In Two Sams, she and her relatives are injured in a car crash and Nina has to have her long hair cut due to a head injury. As Joey puts it, "it was your hair or your life."

Ruhannah 'Ruey' Richardson

First introduced in: Joey and Co in Tirol

Ruey and her brothers, Roddy and Roger, meet the Maynards on holiday in Tyrol when Roger injures his leg. She soon joins the Chalet School and is in the same year/age group as the triplets.

Disappeared Dad: Professor Richardson is a literal example, having gone on a pre-Neil Armstrong mission into space and never come back.
Free-Range Children: She and her brothers live in a hut rented by their dad and are basically left to their own devices. The Maynard family are appalled at the state of the hut the Richardsons are living in, and invite them to come and stay with them. Joey and Jack later become their legal guardians when Professor Richardson sets off on a space expedition.
Happily Adopted: She and her brothers are adopted by the Maynards after her father announces that he's going to be away for a year or two (which turns out to be forever). Joey is furious at this, not because she dislikes the Richardsons, but because of the casual indifference with which their father treats them.
Passionate Sports Girl: Wants to be a games teacher and is a big fan of lacrosse, which gets reintroduced to the Chalet School in Ruey, in no small part thanks to her. She also teaches her classmates how to play.
Promoted to Parent: Because of the professor being away a lot of the time, Ruey is left with housekeeping duties and taking care of her brothers.
Theme Naming: She and her brothers all have names beginning with 'R' and are known as the 'Three Rs' by the Maynards.

Jack Lambert

First introduced in: A Leader in the Chalet School

The daughter of Ruth and Tommy Lambert, and niece of Gay Lambert. Named after Jacynth Hardy, though everyone calls her Jack. She's also one of the most notable tomboy characters in the series, has her own gang of friends and is somewhat of a bully, though she gets better when she becomes a senior.

Alpha Bitch: Particularly in Jane and the Chalet School. She has her own clique who do pretty much whatever she tells them, and Jane Carew is alienated by her form as a result of Jack's bullying and her clique following her lead.
Boyish Short Hair: Like Tom, Jack has her hair cropped like a boy's, and many characters comment that she looks like a boy.
Clear My Name: In Leader, when a toy snake is placed in Miss Bertram's drawer by Miss Andrews, after she confiscated it from another girl, Miss Bertram faints and Miss Annersley asks the girls to own up. Nobody does, and the form blame Jack for it because of her reputation as a prankster, even though Jack has always owned up to previous pranks and protests her innocence. She is later found to be innocent after Miss Andrews tells Len and Margot while she's at the Maynards' house recovering from flu, and the form do apologise to her, but she has to put up with most of them pointedly ignoring her for a week and is not happy about it.
Clingy Jealous Girl: One of the nastier examples in the series. She idolises Len and does not take kindly to having to leave Len's dorm in order to make way for new girl Jane, and bullies her until Len herself has to step in. In Triplets, she gets annoyed with Len not walking with her, which leads to a series of events ending in Jack and her friends getting lost in the woods.
Defeat Means Friendship: She becomes friends with Jane after she gets stuck in a tree during a game of hide-and-seek, and Jane rescues her.
Easily Forgiven: By Jane after Jack bullies her and encourages the other girls to ignore her as well. It says a lot about how nice Jane is that she's willing to be friends with someone who made her first few weeks at school miserable. Jack also gets away with a telling-off from Len and not much else.
Entitled to Have You: Towards Len, to the point where she gets very touchy if other girls have Len's attention.
Expy: Is very similar to Tom, having the same carpentry abilities, Gender-Blender Name and tomboy tendencies, but with a much nastier streak.
Gadgeteer Genius: She loves cars and wants to be an engineer / mechanic, a very unusual career for a woman at that time.
Gender-Blender Name: Actually called Jacynth after Jacynth Hardy, but 'Jack' better suits her tomboyish nature.
Hypocrite: She accuses Jane of lying about Jack attacking her in Jane, even though Jane was telling the truth...when exactly the same thing happened to her in Leader. Len even points this out to her.
Never My Fault: Deep down, Jack knows she's being a complete bitch towards Jane but refuses to accept it. She goes around school in a massive sulk, does badly in class and is rude to prefects and staff alike, and somehow it's Jane's fault for making her act like this.
Not Me This Time: She wasn't responsible for the incident with the toy snake, but the form refuse to believe her. See The Prankster below for why.
Pet the Dog: After her Heel–Face Turn in Jane, when she overhears bad news about Jane's mum being badly injured in a car crash, she realises she can't tell Jane the news herself, but instead she takes her to Miss Annersley, and gives Jane a hug and tells her to keep calm. She also confesses everything to Miss Annersley later.
The Prankster: She plays several tricks in Leader, including sticking Margaret Twiss to her chair with cobbler's wax, putting bubble bath in the teachers' bath and filling Gwen Parry's boots with water. It backfires on her horribly later on - see Clear My Name above.
Sibling Yin-Yang: With her older sister Anne, who's quiet and very feminine.

Characters / Chalet School

The Maynard / Bettany / Russell families

The Staff

Notable Pupils - Tyrol Era

Notable Pupils - Armishire Era

Notable Pupils - St Briavels Era

Notable Pupils - Swiss Era

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Characters / Chalet School

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The Maynard / Bettany / Russell families

The Staff

Notable Pupils - Tyrol Era

Notable Pupils - Armishire Era

Notable Pupils - St Briavels Era

Notable Pupils - Swiss Era

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