For Bensley, teaching means “building futures” and “shaping lives”. He feels students have to be supported at home, by their school, and by the church. He talks at length about the measures in place at his school to encourage good behavior: a reward system; earning privileges; demerits; internal suspensions; and external suspensions.
The paddle is the “last resort”. And only for children in primary school, administered by Bensley, or the head of primary teaching. Out of 600 pupils, this punishment was meted out “only to a handful of students last year” – with the blessing of both parents. Bensley believes students know you are serious about discipline by using the paddle, “but it only works for primary school children: you can always straighten the sapling, for a 7- or 8-year-old a whack on the bottom is instant, they know why, it is dealt with and you move on. But once they are 12, 13 and 14 it doesn’t work. Withdrawing privileges is more effective”.