The Worst Witch - Discuss Chapters 1 and 2

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Prof. Sky Alton
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The Worst Witch - Discuss Chapters 1 and 2

Post by Prof. Sky Alton »

Here we’ll be discussing chapters 1 and 2 of The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy!

Feel free to offer any thoughts that you like or to use some of our suggested questions below. There’s a range of discussion type questions and also a few more creative/imaginative prompts, so feel free to do whichever take your fancy.

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Discussion
Did your school have any traditions? Did people take them seriously?
Do you think it makes sense that a school for witches would be so strict (magic is dangerous, after all) or would you expect a little more chaos?
Do you think Miss Hardbroom is really as heartless as she appears?

Creative
If you were to receive a kitten at the ceremony, what would you name it and why?
It’s a shame that we never get more information about the houses at Miss Cackle’s Academy, as we do with the Hogwarts houses. If you had to create houses for Miss Cackle’s, what kind of names and emblems would you pick? Feel free to create a house badge as an image if you’d rather! (please upload to a photo sharing website and keep it to 600 by 600 pixels).

You can write as much ore as little as you want (this is meant to be a bit of easy fun) but please do try to write at least a few lines for each topic to avoid spam. You’ll earn 15 beans for responding to this thread.

The deadline for earning beans is 11:59 PM HOL-time on 31st August 2022.
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Harry Walles
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Re: The Worst Witch - Discuss Chapters 1 and 2

Post by Harry Walles »

Discussion:

Unfortunately, my school did not have any traditions so I can't talk much about this. However, I can guess that the students would have been forced to treat them seriously and so follow them as it was a private school with much loved school protocol.

In my opinion, a school for witches should not be as strict. I mean normal rules should be in place and sanctions put on students, who break rules. However, punishing students by making simple mistakes, such as brewing a wrong potion is a bit over the top.

I think Miss Hardbroom is a bit too harsh. In some instances she should not have been so mean to Mildred.

Creative
If I were to get a kitten, I would call him 'Cheesecake'. Of course, he would have to be white. The reason behind it, is that a saw a video online, when one guy had a cat called 'Cheesecake' and I found it really adorable.

Oh since it is a rather harsh school, I would name the houses after monsters! I think it would be best to call them 'Werewolves' (grey colour), 'Vampires' (I don't know why but screams blue to me), 'Gargoyles' (purple colour) and 'Zombies' (green colour).
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Louis Walles
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Re: The Worst Witch - Discuss Chapters 1 and 2

Post by Louis Walles »

Discussion:

In my school, the only tradition that comes to my mind is that we had a very stupid, and well...cringey, way of ending the school year. They forced us all to watch boring videos about the school, where most information were completely false. Afterwards, we had to listen to a 'speech' from a girl that was very Draco Malfoy. The only difference is that my Head of Year (something like a headmaster but for my age group only) really liked her, and so every year she was getting fancy awards and cash. It was extremely annoying to watch.

I completely agree with Harry on this one. The rules are important and students should follow them, especially when there is a danger to life and death but punishing for small things and making students feel worse by making mistakes is awful. I also agree with Hazza's opinion about Miss Hardbroom. She gave me Prof. Snape vibes.

Creative:

If I had a kitten I would not be very original with the name. I would probably name it after the colour of its fur. If it was a black kitten, I would call him 'Shadow' and if it was white, I would call him 'Snow'.


If I were to name the houses, I would go a bit biblical/witchcraft like and rename them after famous devils. A black snake on a red background is a symbol of Lucifer house. Then we have Satan - a fire flame on a purple background, Beelzebub as a beetle on a green background and Belphegor house with a white pillow on a blue background.
Last edited by Louis Walles on Wed Aug 31, 2022 10:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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"He who fights too long against the dragons becomes a dragon himself; and if you gaze too long into the abyss, the abyss will gaze into you" ~ Nietzsche
Silvana Mandeville
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Re: The Worst Witch - Discuss Chapters 1 and 2

Post by Silvana Mandeville »

Discussion:
- My school doesn't have any traditions, so I won't know.
- I don't like it if there are chaos at school, so I would like if there are rules. It doesn't have to be that strict as I want for students to enjoy their time at school. But, of course we can't tolerate the students if they cause something dangerous to other school member.
- I would be terrified to have a teacher like Miss. Hardbroom. But maybe that's just how she would act around people.

Creative:
- I would name it Draco after my late cat.
- For house, since it was described to be dark and shadowy, also more like prison.
So, I would create; Mist House, Darkness House, and Midnight House.
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Emerald Wolvenhowl
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Re: The Worst Witch - Discuss Chapters 1 and 2

Post by Emerald Wolvenhowl »

Discussion

My High school had 4 houses that were named after Welsh saints, and like in Harry Potter, we could gain points. Unlike in Harry Potter, having houses was not used as a way of punishing someone so we didn't lose any points over bad behaviour. Instead it was more about encouraging students to do good deeds. There was no sorting ceremony or display as such, just the Deputy Head monotonously calling out a list of names for each house. At the end of the of the year we were told the House winner and it was skimmed over very quickly so there was no big build up or celebration and it did not create a any sense of pride really. Perhaps a bigger thing would have been made of it if I had been at a Boarding school

Creative

I had a Kitten I would try to give it a magical sounding name like, ' Pumpkin' , if it was a Ginger cat etc.I think it would have to be a cheerful, colourful name because Cackles Academy, unlike it's name, isn't very funny at all but rather grey and gloomy.
Elizabeth Hermione
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Re: The Worst Witch - Discuss Chapters 1 and 2

Post by Elizabeth Hermione »

I really love the story discussion!
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