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Private Notes
Robertson, the Headmaster, gives Craig the unpleasant task of stopping an older woman teacher from using the strap on her pupils.
When a boy is shoved down a flight of stairs and knocked out it falls to Craig to prove what everyone already knows - that the deed was done by the school 'hard case', Kenny Patterson.
The death of a loved one is hard to accept at any age. For thirteen year old Hamish it is the beginning of a night of terror.
Obsession can corrupt a man. Allied to jealousy it threatens to destroy Alec McGregor's whole way of life.
The most popular boy at Strathaird School should have no problems, but Dougie Seaton has plenty. As a natural leader he does what he likes: shirks lessons, not pay his debts and lead others into trouble. Craig has the task of dragging the boy back to reality.
Through her outrageous schemes for bending school discipline, Chris Elliott clashes head-on with Ian Craig and the rest of the teaching staff.
The small American community at Strathaird becomes the focus of a 'Yanks - Go Home' campaign.
Davy Murchie is a late developer, though hitherto he has been as much of a 'rough diamond' as the rest of Lower Four. Now, at fourteen, he is showing a passion for mathematics, coupled with a brilliant ability. He is confused and his family and friends don't understand what has happened to him. The only person who can help him is his Maths teacher, Miss Dougall.
On the face of it Mr. Griffin seems a fine acquisition to the teaching staff. But before he can settle down he clashes violently with a bright boy called Innes. His savage reaction to the boy makes Ian Craig doubt his suitability.
When Keith Mitchell keeps having one cold after another, Ian Craig's suspicions that he is playing truant are well founded - but the reasons go deeper than he suspects.
The death of one of the pupils creates an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust at Strathaird School.
Angus Galbraith works a neglected farm. Because his poverty is masked by pride he rejects as charity Craig's efforts to provide his son with a bicycle.
Craig is in trouble after accepting an invitation to speak at a political meeting.
A probationer teacher cannot control a difficult class. How far has the school the right to protect her from publicity?
Wallace Welton is bullied by the other boys, given a nickname and generally knocked around.
Charles Houston, an undergraduate, comes to Strathaird as a temporary teacher. He is given a rough passage before he learns how to translate his idealist theories into practice.
Sixteen-year-old Jane Brewer has a row with her history teacher which brings her to the notice of Ian Craig, her Housemaster. He treats her sympathetically, but in doing so becomes the victim of a crush.
Brenda Graham returns to Strathaird as housekeeper at the Big House, once her family home. Extravagant and condescending, she insists on maintaining 'certain standards'.
Alec McKinlay, a miner's son, is one of Craig's brighter pupils. Opposition to his going to University comes from an expected source - and an unexpected one.
Sally Scott is both precocious and vulnerable, hiding her shyness behind a facade of extrovert gaiety. One day when she writes a poem she is surprised to find that it shocks Ian Craig. His show of puritan disapproval makes Sally withdraw into a shell of resentment.
Francis Cook, nicknamed 'Wee Bonkers' by his classmates because of his bookishness and old-fashioned manner, is moved to another form. Here he teams up with Fisher, one of the School's wilder spirits, with surprising results.
Robin Kyle runs off to the Highlands. Who is responsible for his disappearance? His Parents? The garage where he has been sent on an educational scheme? Or the School itself?
Arriving quietly in Strathaird, Ivor Fallon, an apparently charming man, singles out a woman teacher as his natural victim for a particularly ruthless venture.
Kenneth Woodburn is preparing a glossy tourist film in Scotland. An old flame of Margaret Craig, he stirs up not only the school, but Craig's family life as well.
