There were also “toilet patrols” set to check toilets for misbehaving pupils or smokers. Again they were belted on the spot. Some schools had “playground patrols” where punishment was administered for fighting, hitting windows with a football, boys being found in the girls playground etc. In these cases pupils were either belted in the playground or taken inside the school and belted there. “Belting the lates” was a common practice in many schools. The school entrance doors would be closed at 8.50am and any pupils arriving after that time would be detained just inside the school, boys near the boys entrance, girls at the girls entrance. At about 9.00am a male teacher would come along to the boys entrance and a female teacher to the girls entrance, line up the latecomers and work their way down the row belting each in turm. Seldom was an excuse accepted. Did anyone experience this at English schools, or was Scotland stricter on punishment than England was?

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