In her notice of appeal, Mrs. Byrd said her duties were separate from her husband’s, as she looked after only the junior school. She was not responsible for her husband’s actions or for employing him.
Lady Helen Asquith, a Government inspector of schools, said that in 1961 she had told the Byrds she disapproved of the extent to which corporal punishment was employed, after finding 31 cases recorded in the punishment book in a few months, including two girls aged nine and 11. Later she was told that the use of corporal punishment has been greatly reduced.
She agreed with Mr. J. Hames, for Mrs. Byrd and the company, that the school was “very successful in examinations”.