Remember secondary school. Here are some gems that make you realise how tough it was. Below posts are real, all of them from male pupils.
Doc Picard
The only head in a secondary school that wore a cape and mortar board
Bet all my close mates remember him well
It was from him saying that he got his nickname! He was a nasty man had favourites and covered up for the evil Bully teacher that liked getting in the showers with the first year boys
Does any one remember Huckelberry Lound? Alot of those teachers of the late 50s/60s where men who had come out of the army after serving in WW2.
Board rubber many times!! Mr Wright at Norwood had a table tennis bat with Smack written on it!. Ruler across palm by Mr Cliff!
Main punishment I had was 6 of the best off that a...hole Parr. I was bruised quite severly on my backside. All I can say is that if it was my son he did that to hed have been dealt with severly. As it was my father didnt give a damn. That other not so good as he seemed was Tom Lally who was very handy with his size 12 gym shoe that he wielded with some gusto.
In my time Jimmy Wright had a thin Whippy cane he called Cuthbert, he used to come into the dining room with it hidden up his jacket sleeve
Mrs Corcoran the Science teacher who used to give you a teaspoon of citric acid if you were caught talking!!!
One of the schools I went to, the head used the bicycle pump connectors that screwed to each other as a whippy cane with knurled metal bits on it.
Hated the place, the day I saw the RE teacher Mason beat a boy around the head with a bible because he didn't have a pen was enough for me.
I remember Mr Mason launching a blackboard duster at a lad not sure think it was Rutherford and it split his head open I stood up and shouted “you can’t do that “ and his reply was “ shut up and sit down I can do what the hell I want"
Mason was an odd one. I was there 71-76 and we nicknamed him 'Creeping Jesus'. It was his irrational flashes of anger that were the worst as you never knew what to expect.
Mason’s favourite weapon of choice was a huge bunch of keys that he used swing around his finger and hit you on the side of the head with, the man was a psychopath.
It was different times. Mr Mason and several other teachers had served in the forces during the war... I remember him mentioning once about being in Berlin and it all being rubble. I did see him lose his temper at school once where he took a direct route to a boy who was giving him lip (like swearing at him) - throwing the desks and chairs out of the way and the boy being thrown around like a rag doll. At the time, it didn't seem inappropriate.. I think he just wanted some respect. I met him several years later and outside of school you couldn't have met anyone more pleasant. I suspect his 'psycho' image was well crafted for those that needed it!
Lally (I remember him running the full length of top corridor and slippering a boy at the other end of corridor - bit cruel now but accepted practice in 1967
Lally's slipper was a size 12
In the 70s we had Mr Woods the science teacher, who intimidated the new kids by showing off a selection of weapons for slippering you, starting with ping-pong bats and gradually getting bigger. The last one was the blade off a Swordfish. I remember one kid in our class actually wet himself when he saw that as he took it seriously.
I remember someone throwing a grass sod that came through the window during a lesson and I think it was Mr Mason who brought the culprit into the class room. This teacher whacked him on the backside so hard it broke the stick.
Mr Jones was a tobacco addict his body worn out and he always smoked a cig in class to breathe out of his nose to emphasize how to sound French! And Jack G well known boozer and during science lesson used to go in stockroom and you could hear the door lock then door would unlock and he'd appear with yellow liquid in a measuring glass and pour it down sink and run the tap!
The teachers where like one flew over the cuckoos nest . I remember Parr joining us in the showers i didn't know he was a pervert
he wanted to give me the cane, but wanted you use his hands......it was like.....nooooo way, get the stick out you nonce
When I was at that school it was in the 1960's and in those days it was segregated my late dad knew one of the teachers called Fred Yates who went by the nickname of 'Slasher Yates' and in those days he was famous for launching board rubbers at unsuspecting pupils who weren't paying attention in class
ahh, Slasher Yates, spent half the lesson in the stock room smoking.
froggy caned me on first day at senior school ! I described him to dad he said that's the same one who taught me at school he's a nasty one stay well clear of him ! I said wish you told me yesterday haha
Had board duster/slipper/cane/strap and many other disciplines of torture. To be honest I always deserved it and never did me any harm.
Maybe this is why a lot of kids have no respect today. Watch a lioness looking after her cubs if one gets out of hand she tells it off if it continues she gives it a good clout
Lally was a good shot too
Who remembers Wiggans he taught rural science he caned me across my thumb and palm with a six foot garden cane for dropping my book.
I came back over the weekend as i lived nearby i slid the glass up on the greenhouses and cut all his geraniums into bits armed with a hacksaw i cut the lock off his shed and hours cutting up the bastards spear and jackson chrome garden tools.
I thought that will teach him to knock my thumb nail off my hand.
Mr Wiggins got me with a black board rubber from about 10 feet back in 1970.
Wiggins had a cricket bat with a chalked target on it!! Played name that tune with the bat on ones backside!!
did Doc Davis ever find out about you turning his teeth yellow mellow
Wiggins picked the two fattest lads in the class , told them they had 10seconds to get running before the rest could chase them , catch them , and give them a good hiding . ….. he called it his version of hare and hounds . Put me off going the pie shop after that in case we had him again in the future
He knocked me across the room with a backhand swip one day but I am ever thankful he taught me how to interperet enginering drawing which I stilll use to this day.
He caned me for not doing homework numerous times
I had a permanent bruise in a line across my backside
The kids today would try and get the teachers sued
The odd board duster cane slipper strap ect never did me any harm
We were tuff in those days
6 of those teachers physically lost their shit with me 75-79. Nobody got fired, nobody ended up in court, nobody was mentally scarred, nobody had therapy.
Syl said
Aug 9 6:25 PM, 2025
There were some real sadists posing as teachers back in the day...thank God those days are long gone.
Digger said
Aug 9 7:12 PM, 2025
Syl wrote:
There were some real sadists posing as teachers back in the day...thank God those days are long gone.
I had my fair share of it, even as a girl
Syl said
Aug 9 7:21 PM, 2025
Digger wrote:
Syl wrote:
There were some real sadists posing as teachers back in the day...thank God those days are long gone.
I had my fair share of it, even as a girl
The cane was still allowed, even for girls, when I was at school. Lads could get it on the backside, girls only on the hand.
I never got it, the one time some female teacher decided the whole class should be caned, most of us refused, so she had no choice other than to backtrack.
Red Okktober said
Aug 9 8:13 PM, 2025
We had some dodgy teachers at my school. Just before I joined, the science teacher was jailed for 12 months for causing an explosion on a train, and the French teacher was sentenced more recently for historically bumming boys - it happened while I was there, although I wasn't aware at the time.
We had a deputy head who bore an uncanny resemblance to Myra Hindley - she caught me and my mate bunking off one day and made us get in the back of her car. There were no seats though as she was a dog breeder, just 2 cages. We had to crouch down and crawl in. We drove back to the school in deadly silence and were trying our best not to laugh, as we looked at each other through the bars.
I was covered in dog hairs and spent rest of the day copying word for word from a Ladybird book. Not sadistic as such as there was no physical punishment, but if it happened today I would probably claim PTSD and sue her for mental trauma, even though it was very funny at the time.
Maddog said
Aug 9 8:46 PM, 2025
Red Okktober wrote:
We had some dodgy teachers at my school. Just before I joined, the science teacher was jailed for 12 months for causing an explosion on a train, and the French teacher was sentenced more recently for historically bumming boys - it happened while I was there, although I wasn't aware at the time.
We had a deputy head who bore an uncanny resemblance to Myra Hindley - she caught me and my mate bunking off one day and made us get in the back of her car. There were no seats though as she was a dog breeder, just 2 cages. We had to crouch down and crawl in. We drove back to the school in deadly silence and were trying our best not to laugh, as we looked at each other through the bars.
I was covered in dog hairs and spent rest of the day copying word for word from a Ladybird book. Not sadistic as such as there was no physical punishment, but if it happened today I would probably claim PTSD and sue her for mental trauma, even though it was very funny at the time.
You should have barked at her..
Digger said
Aug 9 9:32 PM, 2025
Syl wrote:
Digger wrote:
Syl wrote:
There were some real sadists posing as teachers back in the day...thank God those days are long gone.
I had my fair share of it, even as a girl
The cane was still allowed, even for girls, when I was at school. Lads could get it on the backside, girls only on the hand.
I never got it, the one time some female teacher decided the whole class should be caned, most of us refused, so she had no choice other than to backtrack.
I never got the ruler or the cane. I was good at being invisible.
I remember we used hide in the cloakrooms, hanging upside down like bats under the coats. Then go through all the pockets looking for kitkats. I know, shameful...
Digger said
Aug 9 9:36 PM, 2025
Red Okktober wrote:
We had some dodgy teachers at my school. Just before I joined, the science teacher was jailed for 12 months for causing an explosion on a train, and the French teacher was sentenced more recently for historically bumming boys - it happened while I was there, although I wasn't aware at the time.
We had a deputy head who bore an uncanny resemblance to Myra Hindley - she caught me and my mate bunking off one day and made us get in the back of her car. There were no seats though as she was a dog breeder, just 2 cages. We had to crouch down and crawl in. We drove back to the school in deadly silence and were trying our best not to laugh, as we looked at each other through the bars.
I was covered in dog hairs and spent rest of the day copying word for word from a Ladybird book. Not sadistic as such as there was no physical punishment, but if it happened today I would probably claim PTSD and sue her for mental trauma, even though it was very funny at the time.
One girl in a rowdy group in our cookery class blew up the teacher. We had the old gas cookers that didn't have a safety cut out. She turned the gas on, shut the oven, then called the teacher over because she said it wouldn't light. Teacher clicked on the lighter and the feckin' backdraft blew her eyebrows off. The same bunch of girls would put margarine in her shoes.
Red Okktober said
Aug 9 10:45 PM, 2025
Digger wrote:
One girl in a rowdy group in our cookery class blew up the teacher. We had the old gas cookers that didn't have a safety cut out. She turned the gas on, shut the oven, then called the teacher over because she said it wouldn't light. Teacher clicked on the lighter and the feckin' backdraft blew her eyebrows off. The same bunch of girls would put margarine in her shoes.
Those were the days - cookery and needlework for girls, and woodwork and metalwork for boys.
One subject that involved both was 'country dancing'. I'm too traumatised to remember all the details, beyond it involving a piano and a very shiny parquet floor.
Syl said
Aug 9 11:07 PM, 2025
Oh God, the memories.
I remember having to play hockey, in the snow, on a freezing muddy field. The sports teacher was hit on the forehead when a couple of girls did an over enthusiastic bully off. The teacher was stretchered off unconscious.
Vam said
Aug 9 11:42 PM, 2025
Syl wrote:
Digger wrote:
Syl wrote:
There were some real sadists posing as teachers back in the day...thank God those days are long gone.
I had my fair share of it, even as a girl
The cane was still allowed, even for girls, when I was at school. Lads could get it on the backside, girls only on the hand.
I never got it, the one time some female teacher decided the whole class should be caned, most of us refused, so she had no choice other than to backtrack.
A couple of the nuns at my school truly were brutal hellions No canes, but - holy cow! - the agony they could inflict with a wooden ruler across the knuckles, if so much as a single comma was misplaced or missing.
That’s why I often have to edit my posts. I know it shouldn’t matter, but if I see that gaping hole where a comma should be, I can never unsee it!
Old habits die hard, I guess (pardon the pun) 😉
Vam said
Aug 9 11:44 PM, 2025
Red Okktober wrote:
Digger wrote:
One girl in a rowdy group in our cookery class blew up the teacher. We had the old gas cookers that didn't have a safety cut out. She turned the gas on, shut the oven, then called the teacher over because she said it wouldn't light. Teacher clicked on the lighter and the feckin' backdraft blew her eyebrows off. The same bunch of girls would put margarine in her shoes.
Those were the days - cookery and needlework for girls, and woodwork and metalwork for boys.
One subject that involved both was 'country dancing'. I'm too traumatised to remember all the details, beyond it involving a piano and a very shiny parquet floor.
😂😂😂
Syl said
Aug 9 11:50 PM, 2025
Vam wrote:
Syl wrote:
Digger wrote:
Syl wrote:
There were some real sadists posing as teachers back in the day...thank God those days are long gone.
I had my fair share of it, even as a girl
The cane was still allowed, even for girls, when I was at school. Lads could get it on the backside, girls only on the hand.
I never got it, the one time some female teacher decided the whole class should be caned, most of us refused, so she had no choice other than to backtrack.
A couple of the nuns at my school truly were brutal hellions No canes, but - holy cow! - the agony they could inflict with a wooden ruler across the knuckles, if so much as a single comma was misplaced or missing.
That’s why I often have to edit my posts. I know it shouldn’t matter, but if I see that gaping hole where a comma should be, I can never unsee it!
Old habits die hard, I guess (pardon the pun) 😉
My OH was taught by monks, he doesn't have fond memories of some of their teaching methods either.
Vam said
Aug 10 12:09 AM, 2025
@ Syl… (pretty sure your OH would agree) I reckon it was largely down to their years of sexual repression, and the guilt and shame they felt when they had their (perfectly normal) ‘impure thoughts’. Then they’d vent their frustration onto my poor knuckles, or shove me into detention for a week.
Maybe there’s an answer to Diggs’ question about sex toys…. 😂
-- Edited by Vam on Sunday 10th of August 2025 12:10:10 AM
Vam said
Aug 10 10:41 AM, 2025
This thread has brought back memories of old-school weird and wonderful schoolteachers. We had a music teacher I can still picture to this day, Miss Evans.
She was a tiny bird-like creature, of indeterminate age, with short, bright orange hair. Rain, hail, or snow she always wore grungy beige jumpers and mid-calf tweed skirts, and a baggy fur coat that flapped around her stick-thin legs. That coat looked greasy AF and it stank to high heaven, so no one wanted to get close enough to try and figure what kind of dead animal she was wearing 🤢
Her outfits always included what looked like 2000 denier tights that were really saggy 😳 and ugly brown Birkenstock-style sandals (before Birkenstocks were a thing). Strangely, her feet were the size of skateboards, so those sandals looked so weird on such a tiny woman!
I had to Google a character I remember seeing on a British TV comedy show, because Miss Evans’ tights were exactly like that. Nora Batty - Miss Evans wore Nora Batty tights 😂
One girl in a rowdy group in our cookery class blew up the teacher. We had the old gas cookers that didn't have a safety cut out. She turned the gas on, shut the oven, then called the teacher over because she said it wouldn't light. Teacher clicked on the lighter and the feckin' backdraft blew her eyebrows off. The same bunch of girls would put margarine in her shoes.
Those were the days - cookery and needlework for girls, and woodwork and metalwork for boys.
One subject that involved both was 'country dancing'. I'm too traumatised to remember all the details, beyond it involving a piano and a very shiny parquet floor.
We had a dance teacher who would sit legs akimbo on a balloon backed chair screeching, "And a-Bree and a-broo and-a POINT-THOSE-TOES girlies!"
Digger said
Aug 10 2:07 PM, 2025
Syl wrote:
Oh God, the memories.
I remember having to play hockey, in the snow, on a freezing muddy field. The sports teacher was hit on the forehead when a couple of girls did an over enthusiastic bully off. The teacher was stretchered off unconscious.
Digger said
Aug 10 2:11 PM, 2025
Another memory I have is someone pinned a bit of paper with the legend KICK ME on it to the back of some poor sap's skirt. About a half a dozen girls did actually kick her up the arse. One even took a run at it. Of course, the rest of us thought it hilarious. Oh, dear God. Some of us are going to hell.
Anonymous said
Aug 10 2:12 PM, 2025
I'm enjoying these posts. St Trinians
Anonymous said
Aug 10 2:41 PM, 2025
I remember a Speech Day at my school, where star pupils climbed the steps and went up on stage in front of their parents and teachers to collect a prize. One of them went up to get his prize from the headmaster, and didn't understand why everyone was laughing - he would have only realised later someone had used a clothes peg to hang a condom from the tail end of his blazer.
Remember secondary school. Here are some gems that make you realise how tough it was. Below posts are real, all of them from male pupils.
I had my fair share of it, even as a girl
The cane was still allowed, even for girls, when I was at school. Lads could get it on the backside, girls only on the hand.
I never got it, the one time some female teacher decided the whole class should be caned, most of us refused, so she had no choice other than to backtrack.
We had a deputy head who bore an uncanny resemblance to Myra Hindley - she caught me and my mate bunking off one day and made us get in the back of her car. There were no seats though as she was a dog breeder, just 2 cages. We had to crouch down and crawl in. We drove back to the school in deadly silence and were trying our best not to laugh, as we looked at each other through the bars.
I was covered in dog hairs and spent rest of the day copying word for word from a Ladybird book. Not sadistic as such as there was no physical punishment, but if it happened today I would probably claim PTSD and sue her for mental trauma, even though it was very funny at the time.
You should have barked at her..
I never got the ruler or the cane. I was good at being invisible.
I remember we used hide in the cloakrooms, hanging upside down like bats under the coats. Then go through all the pockets looking for kitkats. I know, shameful...
One girl in a rowdy group in our cookery class blew up the teacher. We had the old gas cookers that didn't have a safety cut out. She turned the gas on, shut the oven, then called the teacher over because she said it wouldn't light. Teacher clicked on the lighter and the feckin' backdraft blew her eyebrows off. The same bunch of girls would put margarine in her shoes.
Those were the days - cookery and needlework for girls, and woodwork and metalwork for boys.
One subject that involved both was 'country dancing'. I'm too traumatised to remember all the details, beyond it involving a piano and a very shiny parquet floor.
Oh God, the memories.
I remember having to play hockey, in the snow, on a freezing muddy field. The sports teacher was hit on the forehead when a couple of girls did an over enthusiastic bully off. The teacher was stretchered off unconscious.
A couple of the nuns at my school truly were brutal hellions
No canes, but - holy cow! - the agony they could inflict with a wooden ruler across the knuckles, if so much as a single comma was misplaced or missing.
That’s why I often have to edit my posts. I know it shouldn’t matter, but if I see that gaping hole where a comma should be, I can never unsee it!
Old habits die hard, I guess (pardon the pun) 😉
😂😂😂
My OH was taught by monks, he doesn't have fond memories of some of their teaching methods either.
@ Syl… (pretty sure your OH would agree) I reckon it was largely down to their years of sexual repression, and the guilt and shame they felt when they had their (perfectly normal) ‘impure thoughts’. Then they’d vent their frustration onto my poor knuckles, or shove me into detention for a week.
Maybe there’s an answer to Diggs’ question about sex toys…. 😂
-- Edited by Vam on Sunday 10th of August 2025 12:10:10 AM
This thread has brought back memories of old-school weird and wonderful schoolteachers. We had a music teacher I can still picture to this day, Miss Evans.
She was a tiny bird-like creature, of indeterminate age, with short, bright orange hair. Rain, hail, or snow she always wore grungy beige jumpers and mid-calf tweed skirts, and a baggy fur coat that flapped around her stick-thin legs. That coat looked greasy AF and it stank to high heaven, so no one wanted to get close enough to try and figure what kind of dead animal she was wearing 🤢
Her outfits always included what looked like 2000 denier tights that were really saggy 😳 and ugly brown Birkenstock-style sandals (before Birkenstocks were a thing). Strangely, her feet were the size of skateboards, so those sandals looked so weird on such a tiny woman!
I had to Google a character I remember seeing on a British TV comedy show, because Miss Evans’ tights were exactly like that. Nora Batty - Miss Evans wore Nora Batty tights 😂
(tbf though, she really was an awesome pianist!)
We had a dance teacher who would sit legs akimbo on a balloon backed chair screeching, "And a-Bree and a-broo and-a POINT-THOSE-TOES girlies!"
Another memory I have is someone pinned a bit of paper with the legend KICK ME on it to the back of some poor sap's skirt. About a half a dozen girls did actually kick her up the arse. One even took a run at it. Of course, the rest of us thought it hilarious. Oh, dear God. Some of us are going to hell.
I'm enjoying these posts. St Trinians
I remember a Speech Day at my school, where star pupils climbed the steps and went up on stage in front of their parents and teachers to collect a prize. One of them went up to get his prize from the headmaster, and didn't understand why everyone was laughing - he would have only realised later someone had used a clothes peg to hang a condom from the tail end of his blazer.