In comparison to your experiences, I can add when I was in elementary, it was yet another system altogether. 2-tiered in an unusual way. Classroom CP was the norm through grade 4 and on a couple of occassions I got a few smacks on the bottom myself. But these were relatively quite mild, more of a “snap out of it” than of the “can’t sit for a week” variety. But I did see some pretty fervent spankings with a thick ruler of the latter variety. From grade 5 onwards, all CP was hand strapping in the office, witnessed and recorded, and true to this, I never saw classroom CP after grade 4.