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* CompletelyMissingThePoint: In ''Changes'', the Dawbarn twins, Primrose Trevoase, Peggy Harper and Carol Soames have a clandestine picnic in the orchard. Their 'tuck' is stashed in a cupboard, and Priscilla Dawbarn manages to open it by squeezing her arm through a gap and unlocking it. Carol suggests they take some sweets from the sweet cupboard, which is unlocked, but Priscilla refuses, stating that Matron trusts them not to steal from an unlocked cupboard. The irony of this is pointed out to them later.
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* CompletelyMissingThePoint: ComicallyMissingThePoint: In ''Changes'', the Dawbarn twins, Primrose Trevoase, Peggy Harper and Carol Soames have a clandestine picnic in the orchard. Their 'tuck' is stashed in a cupboard, and Priscilla Dawbarn manages to open it by squeezing her arm through a gap and unlocking it. Carol suggests they take some sweets from the sweet cupboard, which is unlocked, but Priscilla refuses, stating that Matron trusts them not to steal from an unlocked cupboard. The irony of this is pointed out to them later.
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Dewicked trope
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* RealityEnsues: Even Joey can't fix the relationship between Ted Grantley and her useless mother. The best they can hope for is a cordial but distant relationship.
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Not So Different has been renamed, and it needs to be dewicked/moved
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* NotSoDifferent: A huge part of ''Richenda'' involves Joey trying to get Rikki Fry and her dad to see each other's points of view and realise that they have a lot more in common than they thought.
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* NotSoDifferent: NotSoDifferentRemark: A huge part of ''Richenda'' involves Joey trying to get Rikki Fry and her dad to see each other's points of view and realise that they have a lot more in common than they thought.
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** Characters often talk about someone getting a good 'screw'. In this context, 'screw' means ''salary''.
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** When Matey tells Jane Carew off for her untidiness, Jane calls herself a 'regular slut'.
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* RealityEnsues: Even Joey can't fix the relationship between Ted Grantley and her useless mother. The best they can hope for is a cordial but distant relationship.
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* DisneyVillainDeath: [spoiler:Prince Cosimo in ''Princess'', who falls down a ravine and breaks his neck.]]
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* DisneyVillainDeath: [spoiler:Prince [[spoiler:Prince Cosimo in ''Princess'', who falls down a ravine and breaks his neck.]]
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* DisneyVillainDeath: [spoiler:Prince Cosimo in ''Princess'', who falls down a ravine and breaks his neck.]]
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** Jack Lambert goes all {{Yandere}} on Jane Carew and beats her up for washing Miss Ferrars and Miss Wilmot's car in ''Jane'', because it is usually 'her' job, ''even though Jane was asked to do it''. As Jane points out to Maeve when the prefects haul her and Jack up for fighting, she had no way of knowing that it was Jack's special job, and she couldn't have exactly said no to a teacher's request.
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* LargeHam: Jane Carew, darling. She comes from an old British acting family and talks in a very 'luvvie'-ish manner, which the other girls find a bit weird. [=EBD=] was also this in real life, according to the foreword in the Girls Gone By edition of ''Jane''.
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* AuthorAppeal: Several of [=EBD=]'s interests feature throughout the series, such as folk songs in general, folk dancing in the Tyrol years, and cellos ([=EBD=] played the cello) in the war years, with two books (''Gay from China'' and ''Jo to the Rescue'') even featuring plots involving cellos. Mr Denny is also friends with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Farrar Ernest Farrar]], a young organist and composer who [=EBD=] knew in real life and who was killed in the First World War; the girls even sing some of his pieces, such as 'Brittany'.
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Direct link.
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* SiblingYinYang / FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: Several examples. As well as Joey and Madge, and Jack and Anne Lambert, there's also the Linton sisters; Gillian is the older, more responsible sister who is PromotedToParent and later becomes a mistress at the school, while Joyce, the younger one, is a lazy, selfish SpoiledBrat.
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* SiblingYinYang / FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: Several examples. As well as Joey and Madge, and Jack and Anne Lambert, there's also the Linton sisters; Gillian is the older, more responsible sister who is PromotedToParent has a PromotionToParent and later becomes a mistress at the school, while Joyce, the younger one, is a lazy, selfish SpoiledBrat.
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* SlapstickKnowsNoGender: There's plenty of it throughout the series, from Joey falling down a pit in ''Camp'' to the blindfold race in ''Coming of Age'' and Len getting covered in paint in ''Althea''.
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** Matron Webb is the nastiest member of staff and does not have any redeeming features or sympathetic/humanising moments. Matron Besley has the excuse of being young and inexperienced (and see JerkassHasAPoint below), and Miss Bubb becomes a TragicVillain in the Swiss years, but Matron Webb is absolutely vile, scolding the girls over the slightest trivial thing, picking on Joey because she thinks Madge gives her special treatment (which isn't true), and locking the Robin in her room. Thankfully, she only lasts a term until Madge has enough and sends her packing.
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* JerkassHasAPoint: Matron Besley's nastiness and pettiness towards Joey is uncalled for, but she is right to point out that she wasn't to know Joey was ill with toothache, as she doesn't know Joey as well as Matey and Joey is naturally pale anyway. She also has a point that Matey is biased towards Joey and that Joey does get away with a lot (although it has nothing to do with Madge being her sister, as Madge goes out of her way to ensure Joey is treated equally).
** Eilunedd Vaughan comes across as this in hindsight when you consider that all three of the Bettany girls were made Head Girl, as well as their cousins Josette and Len. She wasn't wrong to accuse the [=MBR=] girls of being favoured.
** Eilunedd Vaughan comes across as this in hindsight when you consider that all three of the Bettany girls were made Head Girl, as well as their cousins Josette and Len. She wasn't wrong to accuse the [=MBR=] girls of being favoured.
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* WouldHurtAChild: Matron Webb shakes the Robin and locks her in her room after (wrongly) accusing her of lying in ''Princess''. This is the final straw for Madge, who gives her the boot.
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* AnachronismStew: The Armada covers are terrible for this. The Jerry Haylock covers from the '70s and the Gwyneth Jones covers from the '80s both feature characters with hairstyles and clothes that would not have been around in the era of the books. Averted with Piers Sanford's cover art from the '90s reprints, which is more appropriate for the period (although some eagle-eyed fans would argue that he got Joey's hair wrong on the cover of ''Exile'', as she had grown it out by that point).
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* AnachronismStew: The Armada covers are terrible for this. The Jerry Haylock covers from the '70s and the Gwyneth Jones covers from the '80s both feature characters with hairstyles and clothes that would not have been around in the era of the books. Averted with Piers Sanford's cover art from the '90s reprints, which is more appropriate for the period (although some eagle-eyed fans would argue that he got Joey's hair wrong on the cover of ''Exile'', as she had grown it out by that point).point, while Sanford drew her with a bob).
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* AnachronismStew: The Armada covers are terrible for this. The Jerry Haylock covers from the '70s and the Gwyneth Jones covers from the '80s both feature characters with hairstyles and clothes that would not have been around in the era of the books. Averted with Piers Sanford's cover art from the '90s reprints, which is more appropriate for the period (although some eagle-eyed fans would argue that he got Joey's hair wrong on the cover of ''Exile'', as she had grown it out by that point).
* ApronMatron: Matey, Karen the stern Tyrolean school cook, and to a lesser extent, Anna, the Maynards' loyal maid.
* ApronMatron: Matey, Karen the stern Tyrolean school cook, and to a lesser extent, Anna, the Maynards' loyal maid.
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* ScholarshipKid: Ros Lilley in ''Problem''. The scholarship is granted by Tom Gay's mother.
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* ScholarshipKid: ScholarshipStudent: How Ros Lilley ends up at the Chalet School in ''Problem''. The scholarship is granted by Tom Gay's mother.
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* ScholarshipKid: Ros Lilley in ''Problem''. The scholarship is granted by Tom Gay's mother.
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* AuthorTract: Throughout the series, [=EBD=] is not shy about using characters as mouthpieces for expressing her views on everything from beatniks (dirty, untrustworthy) and Protestant Reformers to jazz, how to raise children correctly, and the importance of taking care of one's looks and being dainty and 'trig'. This is especially evident in the Swiss books, which were written after her conversion to Catholicism (she also wrote three religious books). Sometimes it works for the character (e.g. Jem's views on obedience, which would not have been unusual for a man of his age at that time, or Marie von Eschenau and Frieda Mensch - girls from very conservative Tyrolean backgrounds - talking about how much they want to marry and keep their husband happy), and sometimes it's rather jarring (such as Joey's rant about beatniks in ''Summer Term'', or Mary-Lou, a Protestant, talking about what a monster John Knox was).
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* SmallNameBigEgo: Yseult Pertwee in ''New Mistress'', who assumes that her talent for verse-speaking and her acting history will automatically get her a big role in the school Christmas play. It doesn't, as new girls generally get small parts until the teachers know what they're capable of, while the big roles go to established pupils - in this case, it's Mary-Lou. Yseult is not happy and even plots to injure Mary-Lou and take her part. See HoistByHisOwnPetard above for how that turns out. In ''Excitements'', she pushes for her form to do [=WB=] Yeats' ''The Land of Heart's Desire'', with her as the star, but Miss Ferrars vetos this as she thinks the play is too complex for schoolgirls.
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* ShrinkingViolet: There's a few throughout the series: the [[MeaningfulName appropriately named Violet Allison]], Michelle Cabrán, nicknamed Chuchundra by Jack Lambert after the shy little muskrat in [[Literature/TheJungleBook Chuchundra]], and Odette Mercier, who has severe problems with homesickness. Simone starts off as one, but grows out of it.
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* ShrinkingViolet: There's a few throughout the series: the [[MeaningfulName appropriately named Violet Allison]], Michelle Cabrán, nicknamed Chuchundra by Jack Lambert after the shy little muskrat in [[Literature/TheJungleBook Chuchundra]], ''Literature/TheJungleBook'', and Odette Mercier, who has severe problems with homesickness. Simone starts off as one, but grows out of it.
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* WorkingClassPeopleAreMorons: Averted by Rosamund Lilley, a girl from a working-class background who wins a scholarship to the Chalet School. She's academic, but is looked down on by some of the other pupils because of her background.
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* WorkingClassPeopleAreMorons: Averted by Rosamund Lilley, a girl from a working-class background who wins a scholarship to the Chalet School. She's academic, but is looked worries the girls will look down on by some of the other pupils her because of her background.
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** Joan Baker blackmails Ros by threatening to tell the other girls that Ros comes from a working-class background, thinking that it'll turn the genteel young ladies of the Chalet School against her, because that's what happens in the school stories she reads. She's dead wrong, as Ros becomes part of a large friendship group that includes Len Maynard and various other middle-class girls.
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* OneGenderSchool: For most of the series the Chalet School is an all-girls' school, though it does take boys in the kindergarten in Guernsey and Switzerland (such as Felix Maynard).
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* ShrinkingViolet: There's a few throughout the series: the [[MeaningfulName appropriately named Violet Allison]], Michelle Cabrán, nicknamed Chuchundra by Jack Lambert after the shy little muskrat in [[Literature/TheJungleBook Chuchundra]], and Odette Mercier, who has severe problems with homesickness. Simone starts off as one, but grows out of it.
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* ShrinkingViolet: There's a few throughout the series: the [[MeaningfulName appropriately named Violet Allison]], Michelle Cabrán, nicknamed Chuchundra by Jack Lambert after the shy little muskrat in [[Literature/TheJungleBook Chuchundra]], and Odette Mercier, who has severe problems with homesickness. Simone starts off as one, but grows out of it.
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* SingleGenderSchool: For most of the series the Chalet School is an all-girls' school, though it does take boys in the kindergarten in Guernsey and Switzerland (such as Felix Maynard).
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* CorporalPunishment: The school itself doesn't use it - although various prefects and teachers occasionally yearn for a cane with which to punish those pesky Middles - but Jem dishes it out to Mario Balbini for shooting at him with a slingshot, Jack gives Hermann Eisen a beating for throwing stones at a kitten, and the Maynards do smack their naughtier children on occasion. Including Felicity when she's a ''baby''.
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* MeaningfulName: 'Frieden' means 'peace' in German, and it's an accurate name for Frieda, a peacemaker. Massively averted by Prudence Dawbarn, who - as [=EBD=] points out many times - is anything ''but'' prudent. While her twin sister Priscilla is also a pest, she grows out of it when the Dawbarns move to Switzerland; Prudence does not, until Miss Wilson punishes her in ''Coming of Age'' by making her spend the rest of the week doing lessons and going to bed at the same time as the Juniors.
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** The Dawbarn twins are, according to many characters, 'born to be hanged'.
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* ThePrankster: Jack Lambert is probably the biggest example, and Cornelia Flower, Elsie Carr, the Dawbarn twins, Emerence Hope, Heather Clayton, Betty Wynne-Davies and Elizabeth Arnett, and Jocelyn Marvell also all have their moments. In the Tyrol years, Joey is one and sometimes encourages the others to play pranks too, to Madge's irritation.
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** In ''New House'', Joey is reading ''Literature/TheForsyteSaga''.
* ShrinkingViolet: There's a few throughout the series: the [[MeaningfulName appropriately named Violet Allison]], Michelle Cabrán, nicknamed Chuchundra by Jack Lambert after the shy little muskrat in [[Literature/TheJungleBook Chuchundra]], and Odette Mercier, who has severe problems with homesickness. Simone starts off as one, but grows out of it.
* ShrinkingViolet: There's a few throughout the series: the [[MeaningfulName appropriately named Violet Allison]], Michelle Cabrán, nicknamed Chuchundra by Jack Lambert after the shy little muskrat in [[Literature/TheJungleBook Chuchundra]], and Odette Mercier, who has severe problems with homesickness. Simone starts off as one, but grows out of it.
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* SingleGenderSchool: For most of the series the Chalet School is an all-girls' school, though it does take boys in the kindergarten in Guernsey and Switzerland (such as Felix Maynard).
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* ElegantClassicalMusician: piano prodigy Nina Rutherford and cellist Jacynth Hardy. Played with with Margia Stevens, who is an extremely talented pianist for her age, but is just as happy to join in with mischief as the rest of her peers.
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* FatIdiot: Hilda Jukes, a nice but dim fat girl who is also somewhat of a ButtMonkey, and [[TheHyena a notorious giggler]] who gets kicked out of class a couple of times because of it. She gets into a lot of trouble in ''Genius'' when she pushes down too hard on Nina's back during a game of leapfrog and accidentally injures her wrist.
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* CurlyHairIsUgly: ''Massively averted''. Several of the characters who are described as beautiful or attractive, such as Marie von Eschenau, Madge and Sybil Russell and Len Maynard, have curly hair, and Mary-Lou is delighted when her hair grows back curly after having been shaved off.
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* DudeNotFunny: Juliet's reaction in ''Camp'' when she forgets to pack cocoa powder, and Joey teases her about being too preoccupied with her fiancé to remember.
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* CompetenceZone: Once a girl becomes a Senior and/or turns 15, expect her to become a lot more mature and dignified, stop misbehaving, and refer to Middles and Juniors as though they're small children. There are a few aversions, such as Emerence Hope and Betty Wynne-Davies, but most Chalet School girls grow up a ''lot'' once they enter the Fifth Form, and even more so when they enter the Sixth.
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* ForegoneConclusion: Anyone who's started the series after ''Rivals'' will know that Joey survives falling into the lake. Especially as her name appears in a few book titles later in the series (''The Chalet School and Jo'', ''Jo Returns to the Chalet School'', ''Jo to the Rescue'' and ''Joey Goes to the Oberland'').
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* {{Determinator}}: Joey and Mary-Lou are both poster girls for this trope but special mention also goes to Verity-Ann Carey in ''Three Go'', when she refuses to sing German carols and is almost kicked out of the school carol concert, despite being an extremely talented singer. The girls and staff both try to reason with her, to no avail. Even ''Joey'' can't make her give way, and it's only when her father turns up at school alive and well (he's one of the two survivors of the expedition that Mary-Lou's dad was also on) that she finally changes her mind.
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* HaveAGayOldTime: Two characters have 'Gay' as a first name (Gay Lambert and Gay Spencer - it's short for Gabrielle) and [=EBD=] regularly uses 'gay' in its original sense, but there's also rather a lot of occasions where a character declares she's going to 'work like a nigger'. Not to mention Joey's [[SarcasmMode oh-so-charming]] nickname of 'Nigger Baby' for Carlotta von Ahlen, who has olive skin and black hair (as opposed to being blonde and pale like her mum Frieda), and Josette Russell saying that Cecil, her new baby cousin, is 'going to be a little nigger' when she hears that Cecil has black hair.
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* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:Captain and Mrs Carrick, who die in a car crash soon after abandoning Juliet.]]
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* OffToBoardingSchool: This being a boarding school series, you're bound to get plenty of examples and indeed, various girls are packed off to boarding school either because it's good for their health (Lavender Leigh and Barbara Chester), they need to learn to socialise with other girls their age and learn other skills (Nina Rutherford and Verity-Ann Carey) or their parents and/or guardians are sick of their bad behaviour and hope boarding school will reform them (Francie Wilford, Emerence Hope, Richenda Fry, Jocelyn Marvell and many more).
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* MadArtist: If there's a character in the books who's an artist, expect them to be a bit eccentric and often temperamental with it. Examples include Kat Gordon's ditzy aunt Lucia, whose absent-mindedness causes Kat to end up going to ''The Wrong Chalet School'', Adrian/Miles Barras (father of Tony and Clem), and Herr Laubach, the [[SadistTeacher terrifying art teacher]] who scares the pants off the girls, even the ones who are good at art.
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* WhenYouComingHomeDad: Loads of examples for girls who barely see their fathers, and often their mothers as well, due to them working abroad. Carola Johnstone, for instance, has spent so long away from her father (who is working in Africa) that when he meets up with her in ''Carola'', he's shocked to find she's a teenage girl. Both Mary-Lou Trelawney and Verity-Anne Carey have fathers who are away for long periods on expeditions [[spoiler:(and Mary-Lou's father is killed on one of them, though Verity-Anne's father survives).]] The four older Bettany children - Rix, Peggy, Bride and Jackie - live with the Russell family due to their parents being in India, and being unable to get back to Britain because of the war.
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* WackyParentSeriousChild: Maisie Scott née Gomme, who is described as 'feather-headed', has this relationship with her daughter Jo, who is far more sensible and often worries about her useless mum. To a lesser extent, there's also Clem and Tony Barras' MadArtist parents, who are constantly travelling around the world and often leave Clem and Tony to fend for themselves (much to the disapproval of Mary-Lou's gran). Mr Barras is also violent and abusive towards Tony and Clem has to mediate between them, and she later becomes a CoolBigSis for Mary-Lou in ''Three Go''.
* WhenYouComingHomeDad: Loads of examples for girls who barely see their fathers, and often their mothers as well, due to them working abroad. Carola Johnstone, for instance, has spent so long away from her father (who is working in Africa) that when he meets up with her in ''Carola'', he's shocked to find she's a teenage girl. Both Mary-Lou Trelawney and Verity-Anne Carey have fathers who are away for long periods on expeditions [[spoiler:(and Mary-Lou's father is killed on one of them, though Verity-Anne's father survives).]] The four older Bettany children - Rix, Peggy, Bride and Jackie - live with the Russell family due to their parents being in India, and being unable to get back to Britain because of the war.
* WhenYouComingHomeDad: Loads of examples for girls who barely see their fathers, and often their mothers as well, due to them working abroad. Carola Johnstone, for instance, has spent so long away from her father (who is working in Africa) that when he meets up with her in ''Carola'', he's shocked to find she's a teenage girl. Both Mary-Lou Trelawney and Verity-Anne Carey have fathers who are away for long periods on expeditions [[spoiler:(and Mary-Lou's father is killed on one of them, though Verity-Anne's father survives).]] The four older Bettany children - Rix, Peggy, Bride and Jackie - live with the Russell family due to their parents being in India, and being unable to get back to Britain because of the war.
