Newcastle Evening chronical 7th January 1976
The schoolgirls really felt liberated when the headmaster
asked the boys to leave the the assembly hall. The teenagers
listened proudly as the he told them, that from now on they would
be treated exactly the same as the boys...But the girls of Heaton
School, Newcastle, were stunned when he added ‘And that
means from now on, you will also get the cane!’ The girls
have never been caned before and today there was growing
apprehension behind the scenes. A sixteen year old girl said:
‘We nearly died when the head said that we will now get the
cane, I know it’s women’s lib year but we think this is
taking it too far. Will she take her punishment like a MAN? -
’if I’m ever due to get the cane, I will run
home.’ At home, her mother said: ‘The thought of a
bamboo cane really grieves me. I never hit my children.’ But
headmaster, Mr Henry Askew, was adamant that what was good for
the boys would be good for the girls. He said at the school
today: ‘We simply told the girls that from now on they will
be treated the same as the boys.’ The decision was brought
about because of pressure from women members of staff who had had
enough of some girls’ behaviour. One 15 year old girl said:
‘Girls would be at a disadvantage because they were not
allowed to wear trousers in warm weather ‘The stick will
hurt us more’ she said. It is understood that girls will be
caned if they are put into detention twice in one week.
The Daily Telegraph 13th January 1976
Five girls were suspended from Heaton school, Newcastle,
yesterday following a playground riot over corporal punishment.
At the same time another Tyneside headmaster disclosed that he
had caned two fifth form (16 years old) girls for attacking a
classmate. Mr Donald Simpson head of Linskill High School in
North Shields said that the girls had received ‘six of the
best’ after they attacked a girl because she had not invited
them to her Christmas party. The two had been caned with the
backing of their parents. Mr Simpson said: ‘The girls
accepted their punishment without raising objections and they
have apologised for what they have done. The girls admitted it
was a stupid thing to do and they deserved their punishment. Mr
Simpson also backed Mr Henry Askew, the Heaton headmaster, over
his decision to introduce corporal punishment for girls - because
a hard core were uncouth and nasty.
The Sunday Times 7th March 1976
Police are investigating a complaint that a 15 year old girl
was beaten 15 times on the buttocks while being held down by a
headmaster and a teacher. Last night Ethel McAdoo, mother of
fifth former Karen, claimed the caning amounted to
‘brutality’. Mrs McAdoo said that her daughter still
had angry red weals on her buttocks from the caning - on thursday
at Camden Square School in Seaham Durham. Karen was punished for
skipping a woodwork class, which she admits that she had done
before. The headmaster, Harry Clark, said yesterday: ‘The
action was taken entirely within the regulations of the county
authority.’ The authority recently told schools the maximum
number of cane strokes should be six. The head teachers’
association maintains that an older girl should only be caned on
the hands. In a radio interview, Karen said she was taken to a
hall and told to hold out her hand. She refused and was forced to
bend over a platform. Two women teachers had been called by Mr.
Clark. She alleged he lifted her coat so ‘one teacher could
get at me properly.’ ‘I got nine or ten’ Karen
added ‘Then she stopped, but Mr Clark told the teacher to
carry on and I got another five. I didn’t cry. I suppose I
was just frightened. Afterwards I fell on the floor and started
to cry. ’Mrs McAdoo said that Karen’s name had been
deleted from the woodwork lesson so she spent the time in the
toilets. But Mr Clark did not believe her explanation.
A letter to the Dublin Evening Mail August 10 1937
M.C. who is the parent of a seventeen year old girl pupil at
a boarding-school, states that while on holiday at the seaside,
as a result of noticing several marks or bruises on the
girl’s hips, a doctor was consulted. He questioned the girl,
and she told us that recently a film book and a novel had been
smuggled into school by another girl, and that most of the girls
got a look at them, they were passed to her one day and she was
caught reading them one night. The next morning the mistress sent
for her and told her she would be punished if she did not tell
where she got them. she refused to do this and was then brought
to her room where two other teachers assisted in removing her
knickers, putting her across the bed, and while held there the
mistress gave her twelve strokes of the strap on the hips. The
other girl, who later admitted getting the books, received
fourteen strokes of birch rods for the terrible crime... I now
understand that girls are spanked on the bare hips for the
slightest offence against the school rules in this school. The
doctor told me that complaints of similar kind were reported in
the Evening Mail some time ago, and advised me to report the
matter to the Board of Education. It is certain that my daughter
will not return to that school.
all text contributed
by mike - thanks.