In my prep school, the main teaching block had no corridor so you had to walk outside down a concrete path from the classroom to the School House which is where you were “Sent to the Headmaster”. Fortunately my school it was a rare event and I never made that lonely walk but I saw it happen a small number of times and felt very sorry for the boy who was seen looking downcast (if not in tears) as he made his way to the study for an interview with the Headmaster which would presumably end with the slipper or cane.
Later when I was a sixth former at a Comprehensive I saw a boy of about 12-13 with tears in his eyes as he fetched a desk from a neighbouring classroom to take into the Deputy Head’s office presumably for him to bend over for the cane.
That sort of scene was probably a huge deterrent to bad behaviour.