During teacher training, I was not allowed to use corporal punishment on the pupils. Instead, I had to send or take miscreants to the headmistress.
One particular day, at the end of the last lesson with the fifth form, a girl called Georgie had been in a mood all lesson. Just before the end, someone said something to her I did not catch, but it resulted in a volley of very unladylike expletives coming from her mouth.
“Stay behind at the end of the lesson, Georgie. You and I are going to see the headmistress,” I said calmly.
“That’s not fair, she started it!” Georgie said, pointing at a classmate called Marie, who was sitting at the back.
“Marie, is this true?” I enquired.
“I only said, ‘Cheer up, you miserable so and so, Miss,” Marie confessed.
“Detention tomorrow, Marie,” I gave her the good news.
“Miss, it’s Friday tomorrow, Miss. That’s not fair,” Marie moaned.
“Tough!”
The bell rang and everyone filed out, with the exception of Georgie who sat looking glum.
“Georgie, come with me!”
We marched, in silence, along the long corridor to the headmistress’s office.
Mrs G, her secretary informed me, “She is with someone but will not be very long.”
A muffled ‘wop’ rang out followed a split second later by an ‘urg’ sound. Three further ‘wops’ followed about 5 seconds apart as a plimsoll made stern contact, immediately followed by increasingly louder ‘urg and aggh’ sounds. Clearly, someone was getting the slipper. I glanced at Marie who shuffled uneasily, her hands wringing her skirt nervously. Two further wops and someone’s slippering appeared to be complete.
“Now straighten yourself out, Melody, and get out of my sight” Mrs T, the headmistress, said sternly.
Moments later, the door opened and a dishevelled girl emerged, eyes red and face blotchy, her skirt looking a little untidy at the back. Georgie was now looking even more worried.
“You have another one waiting in my office, Mrs T,” Mrs G said on the intercom.
“Give me a moment and then send them in,” came the response from within.
A couple of minutes later, Mrs G announced, “You can go in now, Miss Richardson.”
I politely knocked and showed Georgie into the office.
“How may I help, Miss Richardson?” A rather tired looking Mrs T asked.
“Young Georgie here has been swearing in class, admittedly in response to a comment from Marie J, whom I have given detention to tomorrow,” I explained.
“No doubt that went down well with Miss J,” Mrs Taylor smiled briefly, which I took as a pat on the back for me. “So, Miss Richardson, Georgie?”
“If I were allowed to punish her, I would have given her four with the slipper, Mrs T. Would that have been correct?” I asked.
“I would have recommended six. However, with the mitigation of her being goaded, four is generous but acceptable. Would you like me to do the honours?” she asked.
Personally, I would have loved to spank her myself, but rulers were rules.
“If you would, please, Mrs T. I would be grateful.”
“Very well. Georgie, bend over the back of this chair. Get your head as far down as you can and grip the sides of the chair. I am going to administer four strokes of the plimsoll. Do not stand up, otherwise I will repeat that stroke. Do you understand?”
“Yes Miss,” Georgie said.
She slowly bent over the chair back. As she did, her loose-fitting grey school skirt settled limply on her bottom. Without pause, Mrs T picked up her well-used plimsoll and tapped it a couple of times on Georgie’s bottom before drawing it to shoulder height and bringing it down in an arc into the middle of the waiting bottom. Georgie’s skirt billowed under the impact, whilst Georgie grunted.
The second blow landed. Again, her skirt billowed and the grunt was very much louder this time. The third and then fourth followed with a loud yelp greeting them both in turn.
Putting the plimsoll loudly down on the desk, Mrs T told Georgie, “You may get up now,” which she did, slowly.
The seat of Georgie’s skirt looked quite creased following the impacts it had just taken. As she stood, I saw tears in her eyes.
“If you are sent to me again, it will be six, and maybe not the slipper next time. Now, get yourself home. Miss Richardson, would you wait a moment?”
Mrs T gestured for me to sit, which I did whilst Georgie closed the door behind herself.
“Yes, Mrs T?” I enquired.
“Well done, it sounds like you dealt with the situation very well. I think you will cope very well in the class room and deal with your own discipline very well when you get a permanent place. That is what I wanted to discuss. We have a place coming up in September. Joyce H has just told me she is retiring early to look after her mother in Norfolk, and I would be very happy to see your application. I think the governors would welcome you on my recommendation. We need some young blood.” Mrs T smiled warmly.
“Oh, I was looking at a job in Birmingham, but I love it here. It’s such a pretty little town. If I withdraw that application, how sure are you that I will get the post?”
“Put it this way, Sheila. I would invest in a good wooden ruler and a plimsoll if I were you,” Mrs T confirmed.
The job was confirmed later that month.
Sheila, as told to JG