The above sounds fairly complicated, but is actually pretty much of a simplification. Whatever some people here may chose to believe (and sadly we do have contributors who think everything everywhere corresponded to whatever happened at their school) the use of corporal punishment in general, and the use of the cane in particular, simply didn’t follow any fixed national rules in the UK other than as regards being legal or illegal, and even that issue could get quite complex!
For instance when corporal punishment was abolished in State Schools it also became illegal for pupils funded by the State to be corporeally punished in Private Schools, although pupils not funded by the state could still be so punished until overall abolition several years later.