Anyone find their name listed? <G>







Could this be the real thing. Anyone know anything about Ipswich and the Ispwich Education Committee?

Of course its true in fact I know a lady who was at tyhe school and she has confirmed that the cane was used.

It was and still is a school for handicaped pupils. Its now called Thomas Wolsey school after the famouds butchers son who became Cardinal in the time of Henry VIII.

Wolsey features in many names in the town from the theatre to the art gallery. Sadley Wolseys gate is being eroded away by the weather but the whole of the area is now the subject of an archilogical dig.

You will find in an erlier theme I quoted from several of the other School punishment books in Ipswich. Unfortunately a number are still closed under the 50 year rule

Batfinch, I wasn't questioning if the cane was used! I am sure it was...and quite regularly. I was questioning that authenticity of the book pictured.

HEADBOY

My Mum recently died & sorting out her paperwork revealed school reports from 1928-1933 for my Aunt Glad.

I can assure you, from the style of writing, and the sort of fountain-pen ink on these specimens, these are the real thing. Even the teachers in those days had scratchy knibs to contend with, at least unless they were public school teachers!

The interesting parts are that girls and boys got 6 on occasions, and also that the beatings recorded here are basically for class insubordination, or showing the school up by some sort of riotous assembly on the bus.

I always maintained, in my day at Grammar School(1963-70), that killing someone on school premises was probably only the second-worst crime. Riotous conduct on the way home that had old ladies fainting was the most heinous-wonder if it was thus for Danny's generation?

And what about your side of the pond, Headboy? Was there,regardless of the punishment, one definite no-no at school? Be intruiged to hear your observations!

Steve M

Steve M. asked; "And what about your side of the pond, Headboy? Was there,regardless of the punishment, one definite no-no at school? Be intruiged to hear your observations!"

Good question and I think the answer very much depends on where you went to school. I actually went to both public(government)school for part of the time and Catholic Parochial School for part of the time.

I remember getting punished for two things primarily in Catholic school prior to age 12. One was for not attending the "Children's Mass" on Sunday morning. You knew on Monday if you had not attended the correct mass that you would be spending some time on your knees in the corner. The nuns also seemed to just react with a head bang or a smack if you took too long in their estimation doing something they wanted you to do. We might also get punished for answering incorrectly or doing poorly on a test or assignment.

There was no CP in public elementary school but you might get a lost recess or lines to write if you were too talky in class or failed to do an assignment. Certainly fighting with a fellow in the school yard earned punishment.

In high school the PE teacher used to paddle even though he wasn't supposed to. He did get away with it and in retrospect I am not sure why. He'd paddle for forgetting your P.E. uniform for sure. Or talking back to him. If you were moving too slow in the locker room or shower room, your bare bum would feel his paddle. (I think he really enjoyed smacking the bums of 14 and 15 year olds---I cannot think of a classmate who didn't feel the paddle at least a few time and often for no apparent reason). If you got kept after school for a paddling it was more serious.

I knew boys who attended Catholic high school where the strap was used. They would get it on the seat of their trousers for a variety of infraction, even small ones. The atomic bomb of punishments was being sent out of class to the Headmaster who used the strap too but trousers came down and he lay it on good. (So I was told.) One of my friends who attended Catholic High School was a very funny fellow and would be described as the class clown, he got to visit the Headmaster quite frequently. It would really make him angry but didn't have much of an effect on his behavior. He enjoyed joking about far too much. Tragically, he was killed in Viet Nam a few years later.

Interestingly the big deal in Brit schools from what I can tell that always earned CP was smoking. During my time in High School in the early 1960's, a smoking area was provided to students both in public (government) and Catholic schools.

Anyone know if Ipswich caned the hands or the bum?

Both

I went to school in Ipswich

Headboy re:50 year rule?Some questions:
1)Where are these punishment books stored?
2)Who is in charge of them?
3)How does one apply to see them?
4)Is local council local history anything to do with it?
5)What happens if a book turns up at auction etc?
6)Are there any auctioneers who specialise in CP paraphinlia?

Looks like Bertie buckingham got 6 strokes and a further 2 about 20 days later??

Why are they called strokes?

Batfinch...and their anatomy part of preference was.......(drumroll).....____________!!!

Think back. Try to recall the memory. Which part is tingling more in recollection? Your hands or your bum? < G >

Seriously, I wonder why they didn't have to designate which in the Punishment Book? My little fetishistic mind much prefers envisioning little Dougie Edginton with his bum in the air than with his hand extended.

And tell me should I be envisioning little Dougie with his trousers and pants at his ankles as he awaits the first of his six strokes?

In Suffolk Punishment Books are either in one of the three record offices in Bury St Edmunds, Ipswich or Lowestoft or retained in the schools.They are a record of a punishment not a complete record of how it was administered.The Record Offices apply a 50-year rule but this does not apply to the schools who can make their own rules.Schools are subject to the Freedom of Information Act so they may not apply the same criteria. It’s not possible to say where a punishment book may be.The Record Office index will show which they hold (even those that are restricted) this does not mean that the school holds any others. They may well have been destroyed. One book was in the hands of the local history recorder and extract published in the local paper some time ago I know the Record Office had discussions on this issue.You have to realise that at the time entices were made it was a chore for the HT and they followed the rules as they saw them.

I have a teacher friend who having gone to primary school with, got talking about school days when she mentioned while whilst employed at a primary school,Shepherds Bush during some much needed restoration work, staff had come across old punishment books buried along with other old paperwork. she didn't elaborate in any great detail other than to say it recorded details of childen that had been smacked which we both thought as unusual,

On another note I recently read that former pupils from an independent all-girls residential school are seeking legal action after confidential personal files and pictures of pupils left in the building after it closed down, discovered sometime later by a potential buyer, and alerted the authorities. After the discovery some of the girls requested to see their files to no avail the documents have since disappeared. Under data protection these girls could have a case.

Personal files from one school I attended, apart from the obvious information of data, CP was recorded to your file rather than in a punishment book, The threat from staff, this or that misdemeanour would end up on your file was often heard. Were these files ever subject to official inspections like punishment books, If not, then what possible use did it serve to record punishments on them.

Any future employer seeking a reference was hardly interested in CP or the detentions you clocked up. A few sensitive pupils did worry it would over shadow the rest of their lives, but I don’t recall any pupil challenging to read their file to see exactly what was recorded.

Were pupils personal files retained for a couple of years after leaving, then destroyed, or required to be filed somewhere, having since fallen under the 50 year rule, it would seem unclear.

Ketta

It could be the lack of a punishment book in a private school was to ensure the number of canings that took place could never be made public. Recording punishments on pupils’ personal files probably meant that the only the basics would be entered (eg caned for smoking) whereas in an LEA controlled school it was required that every detail be recorded - name, and age of the offender; number of strokes and on what part of the body inflicted; the nature of the offence and the signature of the teacher (and witness) carrying out the punishment.

I believe in some schools the fact that a pupil had been caned was recorded on his/her end of term report.