In message <41396F2E.7040604@virgin.net>, Joe Connell <jfc.public@virgin.net> writes >The school day would commence with a general melee in what was called >the playground Hi Joe, I too have enjoyed your commentary simply because it is so different from my own experiences in elementary school from1955-1964 in New Jersey. The system of Houses, points and even prefects are know to us only because of their description in the Harry Potter series. We included this as being part of the fictional tale. I have forwarded your description on to my children and nieces, who are avid fans of this series, so they can see that the stories have more basis in reality than they thought. If we could only have such anecdotes from the 1860s when my great grandmother was in school there! Phyllis Kent