Real-life Artful Dodger gang of Victorian child criminals are seen in newly-unearthed police mugshots Chilling evidence of Victorian child offenders — some of whom were as young as ten when they were jailed — have resurfaced. The Evidence, which originate from Wandsworth Prison in London, were recorded in December 1872 to January 1873 . Most […]
When I read of the goings on in some UK schools today; with pupil-on-teacher violence, savage bullying and a total disrespect for authority, it horrifies me. Sure in my day we may have transported the art master’s cycle from the bike sheds to the roof on one occasion, and sent an explicit Valentine’s card to […]
42 per of Leave voters back the return of corporal punishment but only 14 per cent of Remain voters want Britain to ‘bring back the birch’ after leaving EU Forty-two per cent of those who voted Leave in the Brexit referendum think Britain should bring back caning in schools after the country exits the EU. […]
As a mother whose youngest has just started secondary school, I’ll admit that I’m on the alert for stories of youngsters being targeted by gangs of older teenagers. But this week, two sickening incidents remind all of us, even if we don’t have children, of the horrors of bullying. Exhibit One: A viral video of […]
FOUR senior marines have avoided jail for failing to stop junior ranks hitting each other’s backsides with a 2ft strap known as ‘Big Red’. Sergeants Richard Melia and Ian Spence and Corporals Robert Wake and John Arnett all pleaded guilty to four counts of failing to perform their public duty on October 28, 2014. Yesterday […]
A GRUESOME whirlwind has been tragically reaped. The mindless and fearful consequences of decades of overindulgence of our youth, the crazed and misguided obsession with seeking to elevate their status almost to the level of an oppressed minority, and the craven acceptance of wilful and unacceptable behavior reached its inevitable peak with the shocking […]
Beaten into them: Representations of chastisement of medieval students The savage history of beating, flogging and whipping schoolchildren for educational benefit has been studied by an academic. Dr Ben Parson, from the University of Leicester, has written a paper on corporal punishment in the Middle Ages and come to the conclusion that classroom beatings […]
When I say that M.L. Forster loomed over me, it wasn’t too difficult. At 11 years old, I was the smallest boy in the school. Also the skinniest. And at that moment, by far the most frightened. M.L. Forster, headmaster, and frightener-in-chief, was over 6ft tall, more than 16st, a huge and powerful […]
The time has come for the mystery apple thrower at Hellesdon Secondary Modern School to step forward. Come clean, admit it was you, and the guilt which has hung over you like a cloud for more than 60 years will finally be lifted. Among all your stories about life at the school, now Hellesdon […]
Lancing College has produced many famous sons — and many of them were in the vintage sixth form of 1921. A leading light was Brideshead Revisited author Evelyn Waugh who wrote about his Lancing days in his autobiography, A Little Learning. He remembered especially trips with his parents to Brighton at half-term, and the lunches […]
New Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell spent much of last week trying to live down his Rugby schooldays nickname of ‘Thrasher’. It won’t be easy. Fellow ex-pupils say that by the time Mitchell became head of house at Rugby in the Seventies, all the boarding houses had abolished beatings – except one, Tudor, where […]
Sir Rhodes Boyson, the former Conservative MP for Brent North, who has died aged 87, performed for his party a similar function to that of John Prescott in the Labour Party — reminding the grass roots that, however far its leadership deviated from the “True Path”, the party’s heart was still in the right place. […]
A man humiliated a Halloween prankster by pulling down his trousers and caning him — then handcuffing him to a washing line, a court heard. A lit firework was even placed between the buttocks of the 15-year-old but was taken away before it went off on October 31 last year. The incident led to a […]
How we chattered happily away about the whackings, the liver every Tuesday and the school’s obsession with our bowels. The headmaster produced the cane used by the teachers on us in the olden days, and we passed it around with great ceremony[stock photo used in web version only, not in print edition] I used to […]
Corporal punishment should not be reintroduced but ministers have failed to suggest a deterrent as effective, conference hears Children’s behaviour has grown considerably worse since the abolition of corporal punishment 25 years ago, teachers have warned. Successive governments have failed to introduce an effective way to deal with misbehaviour since striking pupils with a cane […]
Six blows on the rump! Extraordinary records reveal how corporal punishment was meted out in our schools Youngsters were given smacks and slaps Items discovered by head as he tidied school basement Bad behaviour including biting ears and repeated acts of violence By Phil Vinter It may seem hard for youngsters of today to believe, […]
Legislation surrounding the smacking of children needs to be relaxed so working-class parents can instil discipline in their homes without fearing prosecution, according to a senior Labour politician. MP for Tottenham David Lammy claimed Labour’s 2004 decision to tighten up the smacking law was partly to blame for last summer’s riots, which erupted in his […]
Half of parents and 19% of pupils think corporal punishment should be brought back Almost half of parents and nearly a fifth of children believe caning should be brought back to the classroom in cases of very bad behaviour, a survey suggests. The survey, commissioned by the Times Educational Supplement (TES), reveals that the majority […]
A UNIVERSITY registrar offered forged degrees to two women in exchange for spanking sessions, a court heard yesterday. Karl Woodgett, who filmed himself caning the women at a hotel, ‘broke the trust’ of his employers, said judge David Ticehurst. The 37-year-old, who worked at the University of Bath at the time, offered Cameroonians Elsie Neh […]
CHILDREN who are smacked by their parents may grow up to be happier and more successful than those spared physical discipline, research suggests. A study found that children smacked until the age of six did better at school and were more optimistic than those never hit by their parents. They were also more likely to […]
BEHAVIOUR among schoolchildren has got worse since the cane was abolished, according to parents. Government research showed some mothers and fathers believed corporal punishment was an “effective method of control” when they were at school. They said the decision to outlaw corporal punishment had contributed to a decline in discipline. The comments — in a […]
EARLY moves to ban teachers from giving girls the belt at school were thwarted by sex discrimination laws, newly released government papers reveal. National Archives of Scotland documents also show Scottish education officials feared a move to ban the belt altogether would be met with “violent opposition” from teachers. The documents, dating from the late […]
HE MAY have been such a diligent pupil at school that he went to university at 16 and has barely eased up on his work rate since. But Gordon Brown was not always so well-behaved. For now, 41 years after he left school, the Prime Minister has revealed that he was subjected to the belt […]
One in five teachers would like to see the cane brought back in schools for “extreme cases”, a survey suggests. The deterioration of class behaviour was the main reason given for backing the return of corporal punishment. The Times Educational Supplement poll of 6,162 UK teachers found more support for the cane in secondary schools. […]
THERE’S a daily newspaper feature in which readers send in questions, answers to be supplied by other readers. Somebody wrote asking what became of Eric Wildman and his society for the Retention of Corporal Punishment in Schools. Good heavens! I went to school with him in the 1930s. We used to make him mad by […]
The government is planning to close a legal loophole which allows staff at a private Christian academy to smack their pupils. The Tyndale Academy in east London avoids the ban on corporal punishment in schools by falling outside the legal definition of a private school. Ministers want to change the law to bring this academy into line. […]
By Steve Doughty Senior judges are expected to demand leniency for parents brought to court for smacking children too hard. If they do not intend to cause physical harm, they should be given only light penalties and should not be jailed, advice for the courts is likely to say today. The recommendations will make Labour’s […]
By Lynette Burrows In the light of yesterday’s revelation that in some schools as many as one pupil in 20 has been suspended for assaulting staff, it is interesting to speculate what would happen if bouncers in clubs, discos and pubs were subject to the same restrictions as teachers when trying to enforce good behaviour […]
By Emma Henry and agencies A schoolboy had a 16th birthday to remember after a stripper ordered by his mother turned up at his drama class. The boy’s mother apparently booked a “gorilla” to mark her son’s big day through an agency, but a stripper turned up instead. The woman even asked her son’s teacher […]
An east London institution that permits smacking is posing a problem for ministers By William Stewart A christian “tuition group” is successfully fighting for its right to give children corporal punishment by arguing it is not legally a school. The Government has been trying to bring Tyndale Academy into line since 2003. But despite two […]
(extract) Archives on show: The exhibition at Mora School chronicles its 100 history SEASONS come and go but one thing never changes – children will always be naughty, writes Alex Wellman. In preparation for its big centenary birthday bash, Mora Primary School, in Mora Road, Cricklewood, is throwing open its archives for all to see. […]
By Macer Hall Political Editor ALAN Johnson ruled out returning to traditional school discipline yesterday – because of his own memories of “barbaric” corporal punishment. And he even singled out a former teacher who he said was dedicated to using the cane. On the day schools were given authority to check pupils for guns and […]
By Sam Clarke Sam Clarke THREE Rs are two too many. Wow, an English and arithmetic lesson in six words – more than some youngsters will get in a lifetime of schooling. But Glasgow kids have proved they can get by on one: rampage. Well, in between the dope, the booze and the occasional beating […]
How Dave the fruit thief was given six of the best…with a clothes brush By Glen Owen Long before he urged people to “hug a hoodie”, David Cameron experienced a more old-fashioned approach to discipline — the wrong end of a clothes brush. Mr Cameron suffered the punishment in the Seventies as a pupil at […]
By Adi Bloom Why did the British cleave to the cane long after other countries banned it? It is the familiar refrain of many teachers: they are poorly paid and burdened with a heavy workload. They are surrounded by misbehaving pupils, whom they need to prepare for vital exams. It was also an argument used […]
Children turn to crime because their parents are too scared to smack them, so they lack discipline, according to a police chief. Superintendent Leroy Logan says many parents no longer use physical punishment because they fear an assault charge. The East London officer made his comment at a meeting of a Commons committee investigating crime […]
By Graeme Paton Education Correspondent Parents have called for the return of the cane to restore order in the classroom. Families told a Government-backed study that discipline had deteriorated since corporal punishment was abolished more than 20 years ago. Many parents also said that teachers had less power to enforce good behaviour and backed the idea […]
By Rosemary Bennett Social Affairs Correspondent SEVEN out of ten parents smack their children and would strongly resist any move to ban corporal punishment in the home, according to a poll. And in the population at large, the survey uncovered even greater support for parents’ right to smack. Eighty per cent said that they believed […]
Flat-cap Hoodies. Their crimes? Pitiful, when compared to today’s teen gangs. Their punishment? Barbaric beatings. By Glenys Roberts Little George Sayers was scarcely a hardened criminal. Just 13 years old, small for his age due to malnourishment, his little face screwed up in an expression of bewilderment, he faced the police camera in May 1900 […]
(extract) The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) has rejected a call for the belt to be brought back to tackle indiscipline in secondary schools. John Swinburne, of the Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party, told BBC Scotland he believed corporal punishment worked. But EIS general secretary Ronnie Smith said it would be a backward step and […]