Another curious incident happened in my third year. We had a boy with a minor physical disability (a club foot). He never seemed to get in trouble. Then one day he was due to be slippered with a group of boys by the French teacher (I think for failing a test). He told the teacher that he was not allowed to slipper him on account of his disability. The teacher was a little taken aback but quickly decided to impose an alternative punishment (a pile of extra work). I don’t know if the headmaster had agreed with the boy’s parents that he should not be slippered. If so, one would have thought that the teachers would have been informed.
The Slipper in UK Schools35
