Who else on here is old enough to remember corporal punishment being administered in their school?

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

I left primary school in 1977.

I remember the Headmaster wandering the corridors with "the slipper" in his hand.

I sat next to a boy who was regularly sent to him to get "the slipper".

It made not one bit of difference to his behaviour.

There was a horrible one at a school I worked at once. It made me sick how respected she was simply by virtue of her position. Really poisonous woman. I've always wanted to meet a nice one to save me from utter prejudice but don't really mix in nunnish circles.

I left primary school in 1969 and corporal punishment was still alive and well then. Interestingly, it was never administered in my secondary school. It seems the younger and more vulnerable the child the more the punishment was physical.

I clearly remember in my infants school we used to have public canings, performed in front of the whole school. Some poor soul (usually one of the naughty boys) was called up onto the stage for having committed some misdemeanor during that week and was then caned in front of everyone - as a deterrent I suppose, as well as to humiliate the victim. I have to say, I was absolutely terrified of all the teachers, especially the headmistress who wielded the cane with such aplomb.

At my junior school various methods were used, though not publicly (apart of course from the teachers reacting to talking in class by rapping knuckles with a ruler, throwing the blackboard rubber, or hitting people on the head with a book as they patrolled the classroom. The cane was administered for particularly bad misbehaviour, as was a plimsoll (known as the 'white medicine slipper') and some teachers just used to give a hearty slap with their bare hands when anyone annoyed them.

And people talk wistfully of the Good Old Days!

Interesting you say that 80sMum about the punishment being more physical if the child were younger and more vulnerable. That's exactly how my Mum remembered it - very vicious physical attacks up until the age of about 12, less so as she got older.

I can remember the whole class getting the strap once. (I still can't remember what for tho!)

I also remember a teacher bashing my and my pals's head together - whilst we were were working, for no apparent reason - other than .... he could get away with it.

(this would be in primary years....1973-74 I think.)

lol at nunnish circles Scummy! I remember the cane being talked about but it wasn't used by the time I got to secondary. I seem to think it was still used at the equivalent boys school then though. Outrageous isn't it?

Same here, left juniors in 1981, and I remember being told about the cane, it was more a boy thing, don't remember any of the girls having been caned. And our headteacher looked like Lady Thatcher.......

I'm a bit younger than PuffTMD. Girls got lines, boys got the strap. When I did something wrong I got the lines, said it was sexist and asked for the strap instead. Over immediately, I have a great pain threshold, parents didn't need to know. I got

Extra lines.

I left secondary in 1980 - in my schools they used the cane, slipper or a bundle of rulers bound together with elastic bands. The English teacher used that on a daily basis. Maths meant risking a flying board rubber and he was such a good shot!

I distinctly remember a boy in my primary being held up by his ankles and shaken in front of the whole class. Looking back he was probably ASD and my history teacher having a boy by his throat against the wall with his feet off the floor.

left juniors in 1988 - boys got the slipper, girls didn't get any corporal punishment

I'm only 26 but thanks to it being outlawed much later in private schools I can remember teachers smacking and slippering with aplonb. The pre-prep I attended was basically there to get kids through their 7+ (exams at the end of Y2) and I have a particularly vivid memory of Mrs Winter throwing Matthew Long across the table and laying into him with a wooden ruler whilst shouting "this will help you learn you stupid, lazy boy" because he's messed up his practice exam papers....Kind of puts the arguments about KS1 SATs being too stressful for kids into perspective for me.

DH is 37 and can remember continual casual violence throughout his state education. One poor boy who DH is convinced would be on the SEN register now was apparently slippered in every class on some days for not doing hos work. Nobody seemed to notice his inability to read and write might have been the cause of the problem

me too
ruler at school
slipper at home

I left secondary school in '79 when it was cane for boys and slipper for girls plus lines, flying board rubbers and detention for everyone. Wasn't remotely effective because the boys used to have a league table to see who was the toughest ie who had been caned the most! I remember one of my detentions was cleaning out the fish tank at lunch time which was fine because it was pouring with rain at the time!

I too remember the slipper... I'm 36 today...

My DH had the bubiou honour of being the last boy in Hertfordshire to get the cane

My DH had the bubiou honour of being the last boy in Hertfordshire to get the cane

Sorry I meant dubious

I left primary school in 1987. I remember when I was in middle infants (1981-1982) boys coming in after morning break to be hit with the ruler by my teacher (I think she was the official "hitter"). They were "big boys" (so presumably a year older than me.

I got the belt (leather strap with thongs - admistered to the wrist) once in 2nd year at secondary school in 1976. Two of us were late to a maths class - because another teacher had been talking to us

My mum was a teacher and was known as a strong disciplinarian but never ever used the belt. The kids hated her punsishments (detention or doing extra homework) as they took up time - whereas the belt was over and done with quickly. But she was also known as fair (unlike my maths teacher!)

My primary school head had a selection of slippers with different thickness of soles. If you were only a bit naughty you got the light blue one, things got progressively worse until if he got the dark green slipper out you knew you were really in trouble!!

Apparently, 10-15 years b4 I went to 2ndary school, the prefects carried canes!!! So you had 17yr old kids with the ability to whack a 13 year old with a stick! And they say we should go back to 1950s schooling methods...

In my secondary school boys and girls could be caned, but only by the head, deputy head or heads of years. Any teacher could use the slipper....and many did. I never had it though, too much of a goody goody. Dh was given the slipper for cycling into the bike shed insted of getting off and pushing it is as you were supposed to!

80smum, your primary school sounds exactly the same as mine!

I never got punished as Ioved school, was clever, and was a goody two shoes!!

Note was clever!

We had a sadistic scottish teacher called Mrs White at primary school (age 7-11, this was the early 1970's). She regularly used to rap kids across the knuckles with a ruler, and I can still recall her voice saying "Woe betide you if I ever catch you doing XXXX again"! I thought she was ancient then but 20 years later, when my granddad was in an old people's home, she was there too - one of the 'inmates'! She was totally bonkers and thought she was still a primary school teacher and the other oldies were the kids.

I would be HORRIFIED if my child was treated like this at primary school. But I guess that's just societal changes - parents accepted it then.

Funny how we thought the teachers to be ancient isn't it. The history teacher I mentioned in my post throttling the boy in my class is now my son's AS level history teacher ........I wonder who feels older him or me?

I can remember at primary school (mid to late 70's) having my mouth washed out with soap and at middle school having the ruler across my hand too. Cor blimey imagine that happening nowadays......

I was a clever goody two shoes too..... that was why I was so indignant at my maths teacher!