What those dusty old registers can tell us about school life in another age
There was a time when almost every school had one.
It was seldom seen by pupils and usually remained safely tucked away in the headteacher’s office. Yet within its pages were recorded the names of generations of schoolchildren who had fallen foul of the rules.
It was the School Punishment Book.
To anyone who went to school during the first half of this century — or indeed well into the 1960s and 1970s — the very words may bring back memories.
But today these old registers have become something rather different. They are historical documents, offering a remarkable glimpse into the changing world of British education.
And what they reveal is sometimes surprising.
