We knew a little of these details in a vague sense, but there was a girl in our dormitory whose older brother was in his last year, and so before long we could work out the tariff more accurately.
Spankings were given either by hand or with an old gym slipper, always six strokes, and the scale of the demerit score determined whether pants or knickers were kept on or lowered.
For a score of minus one or two, Housemother used her hand on the seat of our pants or knickers.
For minus three or four, you got a bottom hand spanking. Minus five or six meant a slippering on the seat of the pants or knickers, while minus seven or eight resulted in a harder slippering.