Miss Birch, with heaving bosom, and quite a deep blush upon her face.—"I feel as ashamed at baring her naughty posteriors as if I was going to suffer the degradation and humiliation myself, but come, Lucille dear, you must bear it, and I hope ​you will be a better and more diligent girl in future." Then catching me by the wrist, as I stood by her side covered with confusion, she tried to lay me across her knees, but I struggled and screamed, "No! No!! No!!! I won't be whipped! Oh! Oh!! dear papa, do forgive me this time!" my face quite crimson and streaming with tears. I took the punishment book out of my desk and placed it on top of it. Then I turned to the implements that were traditionally used at my office. The three canes, junior, senior and a straight-ended, short nursery cane, were at their place in a cupboard. My heavy, rubber-soled plimsoll resided in its desk drawer, from where I took it and placed it on my desk. The wooden ruler already lay there. A dedicated and much-loved comprehensive schoolteacher (Alun Armstrong) who has taught in the same school for 45 years is about to retire with a celebratory farewell in honour of his service. The two dormitories for the littlest girls were approached through a ‘covered way’ leading off the play-room. Three nights a week we had a bath, and on the other nights we had what was called a ‘strip wash’ – hair brushing and fingernail inspection. They both flushed a little. Jenny Woods eyes went wide as she saw the two canes resting on my desk.

Gerard Dubois, you were here before. You know why you were sent here. So, I shall come right to the point. As a repeat offender, you will be dealt with severely. It will be a very unpleasant experience for you, but it will be for your own good.”The meal we all really dreaded was dinner. I am sure that when the food was delivered to the school kitchen it was perfectly good, but what happened to it from there until it hit our plates I can’t imagine. Papa.—What a sight. The rod has made her bottom blush finely. It's best to make her feel sore a few days, or she will soon forget it, and relapse into her old ways." Did you hear? Old Fliegner caught Jenny with her skirt too short!”. Patricia Miller was eager to spread the news.

Papa always had to handle the twigs, and when I began to get older, Miss Birch would tie me up and leave the room, as she pretended to be quite unable to bear the scene. Still papa would always go into her sanctum at the conclusion of my whipping, to talk the matter over with my governess. Jean’s story gives us an insight into life in a girls’ boarding school in the 1930s and 1940s. It tells of fellowship and loneliness, spartan conditions and an ill-fated attempt to run away! Thanks to the contributor’s family for allowing us to use her manuscript. I soon discovered that I was to be known as 139 from now on – my second name. A little number tag was sewn on all of my clothes, and when we went to bed that night – little white beds all in a line, on three sides of a dormitory, and a row down the middle – I knew my bed by the white metal number plate 139 attached to the metal frame. Now, this is what happens to those who think their bottom is made for the public. Learn from what you see!”

The two girls stood before me in their school uniforms. Jennys looked neat. So did Carolines, for one grave exception. The normal school skirt for senior girls was longer, reaching down well below the knees. They were allowed to opt for the shorter skirts the juniors wore, which reached the ground when they kneeled. The one Caroline wore looked shorter, which was easily to bee seen as she stood beside Jenny Woods, whose skirt was regulation length.

Yes. I decided that you might benefit from a little more extracurricular activities. I think you might like the swimming team, or the theatre club. You know there are many possibilities.” Normally, those offences were dealt with best by the class teachers. Having to hold out your hand for the ruler in front of those you tried to impress often did a fine job. This case was different, for Peter Williams was a repeat offender. And his last prank had involved him showing of his naked behind out of a classroom window. We usually played or walked until it was dark, and then, after getting washed and tidied up we once more lined up in the common room and marched in to tea. The dining-room always seemed a much cosier place at tea-time, with the lights turned on, and mostly, I suppose, because we knew we had nothing to fear from the menu. We soon got used to the tea; it was hot and sweet and warmed us after being out in the cold. We could have as much bread and butter with jam or honey, as we could eat, and every now and then we would try to break the school recording of eating 17 slices of bread, but I never knew any girl who ate more than 12. For dessert we had plain or fruit cake and an apple or an orange … very nice. One of the most common punishments for misbehaviour in the dining-room was to be denied your cake or fruit for a week.There were several such minor tyrannical practices carried out by older students, as there has been all over the world, and these were endured and accepted as a part of growing up. Many a time have I been given half a dozen biblical verses to memorize and then required to recite them in the prefects’ room with a waste paper basket over my head. I must say, though, that these are the verses that I remember. Now, Smith, you will get a total of 10 strokes. 4 for wearing non-regulation clothing, 4 for arguing with Mr. Fliegner and those two extra strokes you earned just a moment ago.” t essay on the dangers of smoking, describing your punishment. You will read it to the assembly on monday before classes. Understood?”

Yes, Meier. Of course you are here to be punished. But tell me why you need to be punished by your headmistress!” Now, as I told you before, I am going to cane you now. I know this is your first time to receive any form of corporal punishment here at school. Please know that with that terrible kind of misconduct you have shown, I can not be lenient in any way. It will be a full ten of the best, on your briefs. Now, you will drop your trousers and bend over my desk. You will grab the other side of the desk with your hands, and keep them there while I cane you. You will not stand up before I tell you so. If you do, or in any other way interfere with your deserved punishment, you will receive extra strokes. Now, this will hurt a great deal, it is meant to. You may cry and sob, but I will not tolerate any jumping around or too much wiggling… And with those words, I started slippering him. I dealt out the strokes slow and methodically, alternating cheeks. By the fourth one, the boy was already sobbing, but he took his thrashing without interference.

I was not looking forward to this. Only very rarely a pupil had to report to my office twice in such a short time. She had already received a severe caning on her last visit, and it positively looked like it hadn’t been enough to teach her a lesson. Well, let that be a lesson to you!” I replied. “Now, Woods, lets find out how the senior cane becomes you!”