 "Onward, ever striving onward, Proudly on our brooms we fly. Straight and true above the treetops Shadows on the moonlit sky." The strains of the school song can be heard echoing through the vaulted halls of the converted Gothic castle, which is Cackle s Academy. The young witches fly in on their broomsticks across the dark wooded slopes and over the school gates for the start of another year. Miss Hardbroom is taking a register of the first years as they arrive. She is very pleased to see Ethel Hallow come flying in and make a perfect landing, but has to inform Miss Cackle that Mildred Hubble hasn t yet arrived. Miss Cackle wonders if Walker s Gate can be left open a little longer, but Hardbroom is a stickler for discipline and insists that it be closed on time. Mildred Hubble arrives breathless, at the other side of the gate. As she searches for the handle the door slams shut and the key is turned. Mildred is about to call out, but stops herself in time as she reads the notice on the door - "Latecomers will report to the back entrance where they will stand and wait until they are dealt with by me." signed C. Hardbroom. Inside the courtyard, Miss Cackle is making a speech of welcome to the girls. At that moment Mildred, in full flight, dangling dangerously from her broomstick, rises up over the gates. Miss Cackle, Miss Hardbroom and the new girls watch, transfixed, as Mildred hanging on for dear life dives down, swoops along the courtyard and crashes straight into the school dustbins, breaking her broomstick in half. Mildred hasn t gotten off to a good start. Everyone has a laugh at her expense, but Maud Moonshine comes to her rescue with some parcel tape. Mildred s broomstick will never fly perfectly again. The next few days are full of madness and mystery as Mildred comes to terms with all the rules and age-old traditions of Cackle s Academy. What an odd place it is! There is no electricity in the school, there are bats in her bedroom, and a cold north wind whistles through twelve-inch thick ever-open glass-free windows. The first two weeks are devoted to broomstick flying. If you don t make the grade, you don t stay for the course. After all, who s ever heard of a witch who can t fly a broomstick? There s no real need for it anymore, but Cackle s is a very traditional establishment, unfortunately for Mildred, who is afraid of heights. Ethel and her friend Drusilla Paddock think this is a great joke. Mildred is warned that, though she may a scholarship girl, if she doesn t pass her Broomstick Aptitude Test, Miss Cackle will be forced to ask her to leave. It looks like Mildred Hubble is going to be out of the school before she s hardly begun. But when the time comes, with a little bit of magic from somewhere unexpected, she stays the course and manages to perform some extraordinary manoeuveres...