Chapter 1Grace Baptist SchoolChapter 2Pranking the HeadmasterChapter 3The ChoiceChapter 4My New JobChapter 5I Saw Jennifer Get Caned! So it is down to whether we believe the Head, where there is no evidence against him, or a drunken thug with a history of violence, and dishonety. I think that school had a bad rep' then and for a few years afterwards before someone more modern got in charge and pulled it around, it went from being a Grammar school, to High school and is now an Academy. And beating (not caning; since we were now bigger, a bigger, thicker stick was used), which was already rare when I arrived, vanished within a few years. He was sent to the approved school for stealing three bicycles, the fourth occasion he had been accused in a juvenile court.

I'd had enough of this by then so told him if he thought he could do it, go ahead but I'd be taking it off him. I counted to twenty in my head and then tap-tap-taped his bottom again, this time about an inch below where the first stroke had landed. The master who took the photographs claimed that beatings there had contravened approved school regulations. The Headmaster would remind you of the crime committed, state once more the number of strokes you would receive for said crime, and then invite you to stand in one particular place, and bend down and touch your toes (“Come on, boy, you can bend down further than that! The decision follows a Newsight report in the Daily Mail last Friday detailing punishments of four boys at the school on one day in April.A lad opens the headmaster’s door and seems downcast until he turns the corner and punches the air with his fist.

I had the choice to stare directly down at my shoes or to raise my head a little and look up at the desk.I was belted at the age of 5 by a headmaster who accused me of something I didn't do and which I refused to admit to, my punishment was far worse than that of the kids who were guilty and admitted it. I was in education during corporal punishments era and no caning took place at junior school(5-11 years). Consequently, we were despatched to our classrooms, with the promise (or threat) that the headmaster would come and get us later that day. Only yesterday at assembly I had impressed on the whole school that leaving without permission would not be tolerated.

As is also usually the case with this author; the central character is a very conscientious if somewhat old-fashioned man whose professional role entails him acting in the capacity of disciplinarian. Physical (and indeed mental) abuse was an absolutely embedded, accepted and even encouraged part of the school's culture - a school born out of a military college and which preached Christian values. One ritual that the teachers on duty carried out was to inspect whether the boys and girls looked the part, you know, as true ambassadors of a school whose motto was “discipline and hard work for a better future. They did not respond and I think this was a silent recognition that they had erred and deserved a punishment. com/-aS6kKXlL6VA/U1htg4LgSII/AAAAAAAAAFI/WPW3oZATxEM/s1600/article-2455291-0019D14100000258-114_634x338.

On balance, as there was really no control over these horrible little creatures who should never have been let anywhere near kids, it was a bad thing. I was 11 when that particular incident happened, I attended that instituion in the late 70s/early 80s. Back in the day an underwear was alien, a luxury; and if he was asking us to remove our shorts, it meant being left with nothing but the emaciated bum! Horrible place staffed with the usual array of psycho teachers and a cane happy headmaster who loved to give small boys a good thrashing.

Following the publication of similar allegations in the Daily Mail, the Home Office identified the school and inspectors conducted a preliminary inquiry on Saturday and Sunday, and visited the school again today. He is a tall, broad boy and although the chair is rather large he had some difficulty presenting himself to me and I had to offer instructions. Of the twelve day schools where boys can administer corporal punishment and for which information is available, in ten it was used by boys on less than twenty occasions in the year, but in one it was used on an estimated 175 occasions, though the latter figure includes the use of a slipper. This is only one of several spurious beatings I took from teachers at that school (boarding, natch, for boys aged 5-13), but that's the one which sticks in the memory most.He was banned from doing it when one day he threw it at a kid with faster reactions than normal, who pulled up his desk lid as it flew towards him - it bounced off the lid, went straight through the window next to him (in a first-floor classroom) and showered the headmaster and a couple of prospective parents who were visiting the school and who were walking past with broken glass. A number of schools failed to provide figures and, as those provided are often rough estimates, the data are suitable only for a simple analysis.