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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GailCob · 61-69, F

Good comment and account, Mary. When I was at Grammar School, probably a decade or so after you, caning was still quite common in the lower school, but it was generally understood that once you were in 6th form, you were no longer liable to be caned - apart from your age, moving into the 6th form in those days meant you were still part of an elite, and expected to behave accordingly. Me and two friends were so very clever that we proved there was an exception to the rule.

School Sports day was a very high profile event with many parents and all staff in attendance. In those days I was good long distance runner, as were these two friends. By the end of the third lap of the mile race, the three of us were half a lap ahead of the rest of the field, and almost jogging. We had a spur of the moment idea - what if, instead of really competing, we all ran together to the line and breast the tape at same moment. Our big mistake was not really making it look like a RACE!

We thought it very funny, as did our pals. Apparently the headmistress did not see the joke, believing she had been humiliated in front of parents, and before many minutes there was a message she wanted to see us first thing Monday morning.

I can't recall what we expected, other than the lecture of lectures, which we got - I think she would have been less angry if we had stripped and run the race naked. But then the shock - and this is verbatim - "I don't like having to beat sixth form girls, but you leave me with no alternative. I am going to cane you." I had been caned before, but I can't recall if that knowledge reassured me or scared me even more. There was some throw-away mention that as sixth formers we had the option to discuss it with our parents and move to another school as an alternative to the caning. Ha ha. Hobson's Choice.

So, at the grand old age of 17, and without protest, me and my two partners in crime had to go and bend over a chair one after the other, had our skirts pinned up, and took six really murderous strokes of the cane on our bottoms. Such were the times. This was 1974 A consolation, if there was any, was that we became legends of our year.

MartinII · 70-79, M

@GailCob: Lovely story. At my boys' grammar school, although caning was not all that frequent, sixth formers were certainly not exempt. For example, if you were caught smoking you got six of the best, whoever you were. But in those days I assumed that corporal punishment was largely confined to boys. I would have been shocked to learn that girls at equivalent grammar schools might be caned. Now I know better.

Sharon · F

@MartinII: Girls in single sex girls' schools were a lot more likely to be caned than girls in mixed schools. I know a few women who attended girls' schools. From what they've said, I got off lightly.

SW-User

@GailCob Headmistresses never could take a joke. Mine used her cane as the answer. I was offered the choice of expulsion or a caning on my penultimate day at the school. No choice, it was the cane.