Fun and Games at Malory Towers

Well, I picked this up thinking it was the 1st of the series, but found out it's the 10th! How silly... Anyways I understood pretty well anyway so I guess it can be read as a stand-alone?!
The story was fine and I liked the very oldish British conversations. The girls seemed to act too mature and also very not like teenagers today. Like they didn't even talk about stuff teenage girls do. all of them were too focused on work and never had fun. They all seemed to take the idea of being fifth formers (which I looked up means they're 11 graders??? I mean wow, they sure aren't like 11th graders at this age...) and trying to act as good role models to younger kids, which good for them I guess? The three new girls all were soo different and interesting. Like I liked Gillian but found the part she is so overworked a bit too annoying. Like doing both music and sports really isn't that hard, many people do it. Dalia was definitely my fave! Millicent seemed to self observant and so out of touch with the others, she seemed to be neurodivergent, to be honest (not that it's a bad thing). Anyways I knew who the thief was quite early, so that was no surprise, lol. A good read for fans of the originals I guess. I mean I read The famous five and Secret Seven books too!