I Got The Cane Or Slipper In The Sixth Form

I was caned twice during my sixth form years in the early 1960s, once for skipping school and smoking and once for an offence which embarrassed the Headmistress – an agonising six of the best on both occasions. At my school the girl’s age seemed irrelevant when she was to be disciplined. It was entirely the nature and seriousness of your offence that determined your punishment. It mattered not whether you were a trembling 11 year old or a hardened sixth former - a caning offence was a caning offence. The only thing that changed was that the canings became more severe as you got older. The other change of course was that as you matured and became more worldly-wise, you were much more careful to stick to the rules (a plus in favour of corporal punishment) but equally rather more careful to avoid being caught when you did misbehave. So from memory, there was a significant decline in the frequency of canings as we progressed, and by sixth form, it was becoming much more of an ‘event’ when one of us was caned.

Few, if any, of the girls would have avoided the cane in their seven years at the school, but I think only a minority of us sixth-formers got the cane.

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Rebecca54 · 70-79, F

I was caned three times at school. The first time was when I was 12 - two strokes on my hands. The second time was 3 on my backside for forgetting to do homework for the third time in a term. I had to bend over, hands on knees and my pleated skirt was folded over my back.

The final caning was in the 6th form when I played truant to get some concert tickets and got caught. I remember the lecture which ended in being told by the headmistress that I am afraid I am going to have to cane you!

Girls in the sixth form had just been allowed to wear trousers instead of skirt (which most of us did) and this time I felt my trousers tighten around my bottom as I bent over a chair. I got 6 this time and they made my eyes water and I remember my friends being eager to see my stripes in the toilets afterwards.

MaryWat · 70-79, F

@Rebecca54 Thanks for that contribution Rebecca. From many chats I have had over the years, your experience would seem to be so typical for girls of our generation. A caning was probably avoidable if we were genuinely among the best behaved pupils, continuously, and for all 7 years of Grammar school - a standards few of us met, although I do have one friend who managed the seven years with only a few slipperings.

You have an experience I never had - your hands caned. It always seemed to me to be a lot worse experience than the more common 'bending over'

Rebecca54 · 70-79, F

@MaryWat Mary - I think they only caned younger girls on the hands - as far as I remember it was only fairly light taps with a thin cane. They stung and I could say that I had had the cane!

We had a few goody goodies in our year and it was always an occasion when one of them had to bend over for her first whack of the slipper! I remember one girl got to the 6th form without ever being whacked and then made a mistake and had to bend over for the first time!