Assembly and morning prayers were treated seriously at Longton Hill and girls who were caught talking or even whispering in assembly were more often than not sent out of the hall immediately to stand in the vestibule, below the school clock. There, after an unpleasant wait of several minutes until all the other girls were back in their classrooms, they would find themselves having to lean forwards, their blue school skirts tautening across their rears, to receive one or two smart slaps from a plimsoll, delivered by a senior teacher or by Mrs Kent, the headmistress, herself. Today, as the girls of 5A took their places, Mary Bowyer seemed reluctant to sit down. She hovered in the aisle as the others sat down and then signed to Jodie Davies to budge up along the bench a bit, so she could sit at the end. Jodie thought it odd, but quickly obliged. Mary had looked rather agitated throughout registration; she remembered and hadn’t said a word to anyone.
