I believe it was a strange situation for a new headmaster who had formally only ever taught boys before and seemed to have some strange belief that this is how girls would usually be punished in schools by the headmaster, of course he was wrong but it seemed the other teachers turn a blind eye, probably due to some problems with discipline they had been having with the girls at the school. Anyway, the debate on that site concerning this teacher came to the conclusion that this man who had lived quite a sheltered life, going from public school boy to public school teacher via university to headmaster and then a move to this mixed comprehensive school and so he had little or no idea about disciplining girls just some half baked notions of girls being punished in this manner because the cane was far to severe. Angela was 16 years old but this apparently didn’t stop this fine gentleman from punishing the poor girl in this humiliating manner.