Thwackery is the new headmaster at St Francis comprehensive which is the first school in Brocklehurst to reintroduce caning after the recent change in the law. With every line, “humble yourself before the Lord,” we would thrust our bodies to the ground, and momentarily lay down, to demonstrate how humble we were! Back then if your results were poor (for whatever reason) you'd get put in a class with the seriously dumb, abusive bully types who would constantly disrupt the class so it was a downward spiral. I was belted on a daily basis by my nasty little form teacher every morning I came into class for an entire year.

I had the choice to stare directly down at my shoes or to raise my head a little and look up at the desk. A man who firmly believes in the effectiveness and the necessity for strict traditional discipline for both genders and for all ages. It was only then that bizarrely I realized I was wearing grey trousers and a white shirt and I might easily have been mistaken for a schoolboy in school uniform. A white line immediately appeared in the Terylene, or whatever material they make schoolboys’ trousers from these days. I think that school had a bad rep' then and for a few years afterwards before someone more modern got in charge and pulled it around, it went from being a Grammar school, to High school and is now an Academy.

was no way that I could concentrate on how to understand and play the very complicated game of chess.

When the present Government took office it published some revolutionary suggestions for changing the juvenile courts and treating young offenders. I was floating on the ceiling looking down on this scene where the headmaster had just given the slacking sixth-former six of the best. He has already got a supply of canes in and in the first week alone he beat seven boys – all of them seniors in the sixth-form.The master's view of corporal punishment is that, though he disapproves generally, it "does no harm in many cases, particularly in ordinary schools, where the boy is normal and healthy. He explained that he had examined the lad and found four clear marks on his buttocks and concluded that the strokes must have been severe to cause such injuries through clothing. The boy gave up, teachers gave up, got frightened the distancing and emotional segregation continued, a vicious circle. He gave me a moment to calm down, shook me warmly by the hand and escorted me from the school premises.

Yes, but we are filtering out the mitgation rubbish ie the silly statements that he is a different person when drinking, that he was prone to be upset because of a disagreement in his personal life and instead are talking about the fact (agreed by the witnesses) that at the time of the incident he clearly stated his reason for the attack and made sure his victim knew the reason why which made it very very easy to identify him. I felt a strange mixture of duty and perhaps, I dare say, a hint of satisfaction in the prospect of disciplining them. I was always the one gazing out of the window because watching the birds or someone mow the grass was much more interesting than learning algebra.As they left my study, heads hung low, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of satisfaction for the pain I had inflicted. I heard creaks in the floorboards that told me that he paced the study once or twice before taking up his position. There was talk of abolishing approved schools and replacing them with various types of homes and schools under the control of local councils. Some teachers used it as a deterrent, and it worked alongside other threats and punishments in keeping class discipline, and some good teachers didn't need to .