Miss Dorothy Ross, headmistress of Merton Hall, was furious and complained to Sutcliffe. Their working relationship had never been harmonious, probably because of her avant-garde and innovative approach to education. Over the weekend and during the following week, pupils were questioned, behavioural lectures delivered and Friday was announced as a day of reckoning. Lyle was in a state of panic when Sutcliffe called a formal assembly in the hall. He was ‘absolutely terrified. The headmaster stormed onto the stage, whacked his umbrella on the table (it broke in half, nobody laughed) and after several minutes of controlled fury when he was well and truly on the offensive’ publicly expelled eighteen of the pupils at once.
School Corporal Punishment History73
