School Punishment Book 1954 - 60 At this time most UK schools used corporal punishment (using the cane or slipper to beat children who misbehaved). Different Authorities in different areas had their own rules for this - the main 1950 regulations which applied in our area were: The Headteacher held overall responsibility Punishment should not be severe and should be used only as a last resort Only the Head or authorized teachers should give the punishment Punishment should only be given to boys with a cane on the hand Girls could only be punished in exceptional circumstances (by female teachers) Punishment should normally be given in private The Headteacher had charge of the cane Every case of punishment should be recorded in the school Punishment Book The Punishment Book should be available for inspection by governors Local Authority representatives Corporal punishment should be used only in rare cases with Infant children, and should be in the form of a smack to forearm or thigh Persistent offenders should be referred to the Educational Psychologist Below are some details from the Punishment Book over a school year (1954-55) to see the sorts of things children did which received corporal punishment. In the original book the names of the individuals are recorded, but they have been removed here:

8.10.54	5 boys		Disobedience after caution	2 on hand
11.10.54	6 boys		Disobedience after caution	2 on hand
11.10.54	4 boys		Misbehaviour in hall	1 on hand
20.10.54	1 boy		Fighting	1 on hand
21.10.54	2 boys	8	Going out of school in school time	1 on hand
26.10.54	2 boys		Hanging about in toilets after being sent home	1 on hand
29.10.54	2 boys	10	Using yard apparatus on wrong day and tying ropes	1 on each hand
18.11.54	3 boys		Misbehaviour in dining room	1 on each hand
22.11.54	3 boys	8	Chasing girls in toilets	1 on each hand
30.11.54	5 boys	8-10	Throwing paper towels about in toilets	1 on left hand
8.12.54	2 boys	8	Misbehaviour in toilets	1 on hand
15.12.54	2 boys	8	Lighting matches - setting paper and twigs alight in playground	1 on each hand
17.12.54	3 boys	9	Throwing mud into boy's eyes (reported by School Patrol)	1 on each hand
21.1.55	1 boy	11	Walking on beams in classroom after school (reported by caretaker)	1 on each hand
21.1.55	1 boy	11	In classroom after school	1 on right hand
21.1.55	1 boy	11	Misbehaving in toilets and lying	1 on each hand
21.1.55	1 boy	10	Misbehaving in toilets (reported by supervisor)	1 on right hand
22.2.55	3 boys	8-10	Snowballing after being told not to do so (reported by Cook)	1 on right hand
24.2.55	2 boys	10-11	Snowballing after being told not to do so	1 on right hand
24.2.55	1 boy	9	Misbehaving in class	1 on right hand
7.3.55	2 boys	7-8	Unruly behaviour in Prayers	1 on right hand
7.3.55	1 boy	8	Fighting in classrooms	1 on right hand
15.3.55	4 boys	7-9	Playing in girls toilets	1 on right hand
16.3.55	2 boys	9-10	Fighting in road causing annoyance to residents and the Patrol	1 on right hand
16.3.55	2 boys	9-10	Fighting in road causing annoyance to residents and the Patrol	1 on each hand
24.3.55	1 boy	9	Misbehaviour in absence of teacher	1 on each hand
24.3.55	2 boys	8-9	Misbehaviour in Hall	1 on each hand
28.3.55	2 boys	10	Attacking another boy for no reason	1 on right hand
6.5.55	7 boys	10-11	Bad behaviour in Yard	1 on each hand
6.6.55	2 boys	10-11	Disobedience	1 on right hand
10.6.55	3 boys	9	Playing in Infants School corridor after school hours	1 on left hand
16.6.55	7 boys	8-11	Leaving School on Sports Afternoon without permission, found by Attendance Officer	1 on each hand
21.6.55	2 boys	9	Irreverence in Assembly	1 on each hand
29.6.55	4 boys	10-11	Tampering with a museum object sent to school on loan and for removing and losing parts of same	1 on each hand
30.6.55	2 boys	9	Talking in Assembly	1 on right hand
5.7.55	1 boy	9	Cutting desk with knife	1 on right hand
6.7.55	3 boys	9	Inattention and misbehaviour in singing together	1 on each hand
13.7.55	2 boys	9-10	Damaging trees	1 on each hand

Other incidents detailed in the book (some occur several times with different children): pushing girls over trying to flood the toilets by turning on taps going into the Infant School building climbing in the toilets using catapults in the toilets scribbling on new desks leading small boys into fighting annoying Leader (?) misbehaviour in Dining Room biting another boy defiance and spitting in a child's face treading in new cement after being told to keep away throwing pepper in another boy's eyes constantly being reprimanded for carelessness in work marking new desk with a coin wasting time noisy conduct in Hall coming back into school after dismissal throwing boots in toilet, smashing basin misconduct in music lesson using waterpistol climbing wall and interfering with bird's nest deliberate misconduct when being marshalled for morning worship writing and passing on rude notes manhandling a Y4 boy with intent to hurt going in Infants' yard and climbing on Infants' apparatus throwing plugs from washbasins at one another fooling around in singing lesson leaving class without permission letting air out of tyres of car belonging to a teacher noise in Infants corridor and rudeness to a teacher playing in the toilets after many cautions playing out of bounds and breaking window going in the Infant toilets using bad language breaking school rules and entering classrooms at wrong times on apparatus in yard on wrong day teasing a Special Needs child misconduct all day going out of bounds and touching a workman's tools misbehaving on lines misbehaving at Prayers wilfully damaging school books leaving school at dinner hour without permission turning tap of hosepipe in toilets going into classroom in dinner hour without permission and throwing straws about throwing all the children's coats and hats on the porch floor spitting water in the toilets kicking coal as a football - hurting a small child in doing so fighting on yard apparatus on the wrong day and fighting after the whistle losing temper and throwing rounders sticks at each other breaking rule about litter, after warning throwing ink onto classroom ceilings and walls threatening children with metal dart on field ill mannered at dinner and rude to teacher on duty disobedience and going into the caretaker's store Often the same children and sometimes their younger brothers keep reappearing in the book, though no girls were recorded. Corporal punishment ended at Deanesfield in September 1960 when Mr Freeth took over as headteacher, and has not been used in the school since. It has now been made illegal by the European Court of Human Rights. Judging by the numbers of cases involved it did not seem to make a great deal of difference in preventing misbehaviour - in fact some incidents seem much worse than the behaviour of our children today. However, it's interesting to see that some of the minor incidents - messing about when lining up, talking in assembly and so forth - remain just the same today!

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