The young Copperfield is very much alone for the first month at school. Eventually it becomes apparent that the school will become fully occupied with other schoolboys. David meets his first real friend in a young boy called Traddles.

David is also summoned to meet the headmaster a certain Mr Creakle who is a terrible brute of a man. He treats his family with disdain and his pupils even worse. David fears the almost daily beatings that he and Traddles have to endure at the hands of the sadistic headmaster.