It was in the summer term of 1932 that we had our first boarder. We had not intended having any boarders but there was a likelihood of losing Joy who had come to us at the age of five in the previous September. Her father had been ill and had been ordered a sea voyage and it meant either taking her as a boarder or losing her altogether. We had grown very fond of her and she was getting on so well we told her parents we would be glad to take her and save disrupting her progress. She had the little room at the top of the staircase (which many years later became the staff room), next to my mother's bedroom. Actually Gillian was our first boarder as she stayed with us for one week before Joy who came at half term. The Autumn term in 1932 began on September 21st with eight new pupils and at half term Isabel aged 4 joined Joy as a boarder and Antonia one of the new day pupils was a boarder for one week. There is a snapshot of Joy, Isabel and Antonia sweeping up chestnut leaves which had blown onto the lawn from the spinney. In May 1934 Madeliene came as a boarder.

In 1934 we had 29 children in the school and were now outgrowing the original schoolrooms and needed more space for development. So in the spring of that year we discussed with Mr Higby, the builder, plans for making a gymnasium with cloakroom and small schoolroom out of the big barn across the playground. It was an exciting moment when one day at lunch time we looked across and saw a workman up a ladder beginning to take the first tiles off the roof. Up till that time it had been a store room and dumping ground for anything that had not got a place elsewhere. It was coalshed, woodshed and garage for the car and a happy hunting ground for Punch and George who used to rush across there as soon as I let them out in the morning and begin a rat hunt. The building went on all through the summer term and we had prayers in there for the first time on July 20th.

July 21st was Sports Day and we had tea in the new gym but had to abandon team races out of doors as it turned to rain.

The building was a great asset. The floor was of fitted polished wood and the walls were of concrete half way up painted green, and painted white bricks above. The roof of original rafters was filled in with wood under the tiles. It was lighted by double French windows which folded right back giving access on to the playground. There were also two roof lights. At one end was a cloakroom and lavatory and the boiler for heating the radiators. The other end was made into a small classroom with a ceiling above which formed the loft where we kept the portable platform and trunks and boxes of fancy dress etc for our plays. One side of the schoolroom was lined with shelves which served as the school library. Two ropes for climbing hung from one of the rafters at one end of the gyml and there was a balancing form along the inner wall. The piano stood near the end wall. Entrance to the gym was through a door at either end and a very strict rule forbad entrance directly off the gritty playground through the French windows on to the polished floor. Parents and others who did not know or who forgot about this rule were instantly reminded of it by the children.