Few expressions in school life carried quite the same significance as the words, “Go and see the Head.”
The instruction meant that an offence had passed beyond the ordinary authority of the classroom teacher. Even when the pupil did not know precisely what punishment awaited him, he understood that the matter had become serious.
The Final Authority
In many schools the headmaster or headmistress occupied the highest point in the disciplinary structure.
Minor matters could be dealt with by classroom teachers. More persistent offences might reach a senior teacher, housemaster or deputy head.
The most serious cases could be referred to the Head.
This did not mean that every headmaster personally administered every formal punishment. The survey shows considerable variation between schools. Nevertheless, the Head’s office appears repeatedly in accounts of serious discipline.
The Journey to the Office
The journey itself could be memorable.
A pupil might be sent immediately from a classroom or told to report at a particular time.
Others were instructed to wait outside the office until summoned.
At Oldfields Boys School in 1972, a thirteen-year-old pupil involved in taking crisps from a faulty vending machine remembered joining other boys waiting along the corridor outside the headmaster’s office.
The eventual punishment was administered by the headmaster.
The West Country Grammar School
A similar pattern appears in the 1959 account of three boys caught play-fighting on a staircase.
The headmaster discovered the offence himself.
Rather than deal with the boys immediately, he ordered them to wait outside his office.
The delay increased their uncertainty.
One of the boys had previously been caned and warned the others what they might expect.
Eventually all three were called inside.
A Formal Occasion
The Head’s office transformed punishment into something official.
The surroundings were different from the classroom.
The Head might first question the pupil or deliver a lecture.
The offence could be entered in the punishment book.
Other members of staff might be present.
The event therefore carried an institutional authority which an immediate classroom punishment did not always possess.
Not Always the Severest
Yet it would be wrong to assume that punishment by the Head was automatically more severe than anything a classroom teacher might administer.
Some teachers were remembered as formidable disciplinarians in their own right.
The importance of being sent to the Head lay partly in status rather than simply physical severity.
The Meaning of Escalation
Referral told the pupil that an ordinary boundary had been crossed.
The classroom teacher was effectively saying:
“This matter is too serious for me to deal with in the usual way.”
For many children, that message was itself a powerful part of the punishment.
