My father was deputy head and later headmaster of the school, and I had the opportunity to take a furtive peek at the Punishment Book on a couple of occasions.
The entries were similar in number and for reasons remarkably similar to those HH has shown. However, far more corporal punishments occurred in the classroom that were not recorded.
When I was a guest at the 75th anniversary of the school in the 1990s, I managed to get my hands on the Punishment Book once again and noted that my father’s successor, who took over in the mid-60s, caned significantly more often and with greater severity than before. By that time, the school was co-educational and I understand there was no longer any classroom corporal punishment. Perhaps minor classroom punishments acted as a good deterrent?