“It is difficult to foretell what will become of our exclusive boarding schools if the nation ever takes seriously the problem of providing secondary education, of one kind or another, for a substantial part of its population, and at the same time realizes how effectively, as well as expensively, in present conditions we educate the difference classes to misunderstand each other.”

The corporate spirit of “Churnside” owed much to the fact that the boys were drawn from widely differing homes and were of very varied antecedents. The original terms of the foundation made provision only for successful scholarship candidates from the County elementary schools, and a few nominated scholars, but the school was early opened to fee-paying pupils whose number steadily increased. No distinction was made between any of the boys; they all wore grey suits provided by the school; their pocket-money was limited and an equal weekly allowance was made by the Governors, from which joint sum “taxes” were levied to defray the cost of those departments directly controlled by the boys; and they all shared in the household duties allotted to them—serving at table, preparing certain rooms for daily use, making their beds and cleaning their shoes, besides working on the games field and keeping sports material in good repair.