CP at St Austins RC boys school in Charlton, London (early '80s)

I joined St Austins RC school for boys around 1981. The school was in Charlton (London). St Austin's was in flux and had only started offering O'levels a few years before I started. During my time two thirds of final year pupils were taking CSEs (a more simple examination). The change had come about through the effort of some dedicated staff.

Many of the small number of posts for this school on the "Friends Reunited" web site mention fighting. Pupils fought with other schools, they fought at inter-school sports matches and of course they fought each other. Most of this happened before my time. During my time the boys at the school were pretty tame.

In our first few weeks at the school teachers shocked us by appearing very strict. We later discovered that they were just implementing a deliberate policy to gain authority over us. None of us was punished during this period of supposed strictness. The teachers turned out to be a very nice group of people. They worked very hard. They were harmless.

The PE teacher wielded the slipper on the last boy out of the changing room. I think he made the boy bend over for this. My recollection of this is poor as there was nothing ritualised about the punishment, it didn't hurt too much, and it was done in a spirit of fun.

The only other teacher who dished out punishment in the class environment was one of the English teachers. I didn't start in the top stream for English. I was "bumped up" to the top stream during my first term at the school. I heard terrible stories this teacher's punishments before joining his class. I had to be forced to accept my promotion to the top English class! When I joined this class I was very nervous. But I relaxed when I realised that rumors of his punishments were very exaggerated.

Very occasionally this English teacher slippered boys who had forgotten their home work. We were pretty slack and rarely handed in our home work. On a few occasions those boys who had forgotten their home work to come out to the front. We had to walk back to our desks past the slipper wielding English teacher who gave each boy a whack as he passed. We had to pass him in the isle between the desks on either side of the room. Some boys were clever enough to put their hands on the desks and propel themselves forward to avoid the force of the blow. The English teacher called a halt to the procession when this happened and had the boy come back for another round. My whack was enough to numb my bottom, but not very hard. I wound this teacher up incredibly over my school career but he never retaliated. He was a good guy.

In the morning, and at the end of break times, we had to line up by forms in the play ground. This was supervised by the Headmaster, the Deputy Head, or a senior teacher. We were supposed to be quiet wile we waited until our form was called into the school. Of course there was always talking. On some occasions the duty teacher caught some boys talking and called them out to the front. He would then ask for a "slipper." This meant he wanted to borrow a plimsoll or a "trainer" (sports shoe.) Being blood thirsty little devils boys eagerly fished out their sports shoes and called "Sir, Sir!" to draw attention to their deadly implements.

Some teachers would make more of a feast of this than others. The head and the deputy head would carefully sample the proffered weapons, giving them trial whips through the air. When a slipper had been selected the teacher would get the boys to bend over one at a time for one stroke.

On one occasion I got the slipper from Roscoe (the nickname of the Deputy head Mr Kowalski). I couldn't bring myself to bend over properly. I got one almighty whack which had tears welling up my eyes. I was told that I had received a harder stroke than the other boys punished at that time. But perhaps the boys were trying to make me feel better. Roscoe was a good fellow. I don't think he was a sadist.

The original headmaster, during my time at the school, was a Mr Edwards. He was a handsome man. I think he must have been a very attractive boy, and perhaps this singled him out for "special treatment" by a teacher while he was at school, and set him on the road to being a "spanko."

Mr Edwards caned boys in the privacy of his office. I don't know much about it since I was in the top stream and it was mainly second and third stream boys who were caned. Boys were most often caned for smoking in the toilets and "bunking off" without being intelligent enough to forge a parent's note and signature in the school log book. The school log book was a book we carried for communication between parents and the school.

The head master's room was located in the vestibule at the formal entrance to the school. The head master had a secretary outside his office in an area enclosed by glass and wooden paneling and a door with a glass panel. I think his secretary was a youngish blond lady, but I never paid her any attention while I was in the area. We were all too afraid of Mr Edwards to do anything but keep our heads down. Above the head's door there was a "traffic light" type sign showing if the head was engaged or not. Those poor lads sent for a caning must have watched that sign with dread.

Mr Edwards toured the boys toilets at break time carrying his cane. The cane was made of dark brown knobbly rattan. It was about thirty inches long and as thick as a thumb. I am sure a cane of this thickness, and stiffness, was illegal under the prevailing Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) regulations. There were invariably boys smoking in the toilets. Mr Edwards would shout "come out bog rats!" The culprits would follow the head back to his office for a caning on their trousered bottom.

After school Mr Edwards often drove around the area looking for boys from St Austins who were disturbing the peace or messing around in some way. These boys would be ordered to meet the head back at school for a caning.

Luckily I never had occasion to visit that room until after the school closed it's doors for good. I was often in this area for detention due to lateness. No amount of lateness could be upgraded to corporal punishment. We had to stand quietly for an half an hour or an hour (I forget how long exactly.)

Morning assembly was held after registration in our "set" room. During morning assembly boys sat on chairs at the front of the hall near the stage. Teachers sat at the back of the hall. Many teachers stood at the back of the hall because they came in late. The head master stood on the stage behind a podium.

On one memorable occasion, during my first year, the head called the second stream forth year boys up on stage. The boys were about fifteen years old. The boys took steps leading up to the left hand of the stage as I faced it. As the first boy reached the middle of the stage Mr Edwards stepped forward past the podium and asked him if he had handed in his history home work. It was apparently due weeks earlier. "No?" The boy was told to bend over with his bottom still facing the way from which he had come. The head master whipped up the boy's blazer coat tail with a flick of his stiff cane and landed four very quick, and incredibly hard, CRACKKK!!! strokes of the cane on the boy's bottom. The strokes were delivered with great force. Everyone was shocked. I was outraged. I looked back to see what the other teachers would do about this turn of events. The teachers were sitting, or standing, with their mouths open. Each boy came up and recieved the same four very hard strokes of the cane. I had a strong desire to go up on stage and give the head a punch in the face. I sat with my fists and teeth clenched.

Just a couple of boys had handed in their home work. One of the school "toughs" said that he had handed his home work in that morning. The head told him that this would be checked, and that he would be given six strokes of the cane in the head's office if it was found to be false. At the time I thought it would be better to receive a couple of extra strokes in private rather than face a public caning. But upon reflection I wonder if the head might have meted out even more serious punishment if there were no witnesses.

The history teacher was a lovely guy and I think he would back the pupil up in a lie to allow him to dodge this caning. The staff were pretty stunned by what had happened. I didn't speak about this to anyone in the school, or outside, at the time. I doubt it ever went into a punishment book!

Mr Edwards later left to teach at a private school. This was around the time when the ILEA were trying to reduce the incidence of corporal punishment in schools. A study of teachers migrated to teach in the private sector at this time would yield a harvest of CP enthusiasts.

I heard that caning had been far more common before my time. On Friend's Reunited there are stories of teachers, who were mild mannered during my day, wielding the cane in earlier years.

There were a few other teachers who used to smack bums with slippers or craft teachers who caned with doweling rods. But this was done in a jokey fashon and wouldn't have left marks.

After Mr Edwards left we had one more teacher who liked to wield the cane. He was a young religious education teacher. On one occasion he gave the whole school a detention, for talking in assembly, which even I wasn't able to worm my way out of. Something happened during the detention, which was held that evening, and he decided to cane two or three boys. The detention took place in the gym of our school. As I left I heard him sending a boy for the cane & buk. I wondered if this was some kind of punishment furniture until I realised his northern accent had garbled the word "book." I wasn't around to witness, or hear, the results. I thought this teacher might have been mentally unstable as he behaved erratically. He left the school to join a more salubrious establishment in a senior position. He was very embarrassed to see boys from our school when we took a class at his new school during a sixth form exchange program. I don't think he wanted to have his earlier behavior related.

When Roscoe took over the school he showed a light touch. He was very reasonable and didn't like to punish boys. Looking back I'm not sure he personally punished any boys after Mr Edwards left. A very beautiful new teacher joined the school when I was in the fourth of fifth year. Of course some of the boys were very handsome and she was only a few years older than them. One evening she flirted with them after the school closed. One of the boys touched her pussy (memory fails me as to the reported sequence of events.) When this teacher brought this matter to the attention of Roscoe the boys were not punished as she had led them on. Things had really changed in the school This treatment was more in line with the times than the punishments dealt out to pupils by Mr Edwards.

On FR you will see some listed members of the school are girls. These are either wives of ex-boys of the school or perhaps sixth form exchange students. They were not around to witness any of the events mentioned above.

I'm feeling pretty ill at the moment (a bit of tummy trouble.) I'm going to halt editing and let you have this now. Sorry for any mistakes. I'd better be off to Matron!