NRS-16498 | Punishment Book [Ash Island Public School]

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Regulations under the Public Schools Act of 1866, adopted by the Council [of Education] 27 February 1867, regulated the punishment of children in schools by stipulating: “In the government of the pupils, all degrading and injurious punishments are to be avoided. The Teacher’s discipline must be mild but firm, his manner kindly, his demeanour cheerful and calculated to gain the confidence of his pupils, and his language marked by strict propriety. While he should overlook no offence, his aim should be to prevent the necessity for punishment by the improvement of the offender.”

In relation to corporal punishment the regulations continue: “Corporal punishment should be inflicted in extreme cases only, and then as a last resource; and the teacher must keep a record of the time and place at which pupils were corporally chastised, the amount of such punishment and the nature of the offence.”

Uniform stationery soon evolved to enable compliance with these regulations. These punishment books are registers of all cases of corporal punishment administered to pupils. The information they detail includes: the pupil’s name; age; nature of offence; amount of punishment (i.e. number of strokes); by whom sent; the date of the punishment; and by whom the punishment was inflicted.

The sole volume of this series presently held records no punishments. Signed and dated notes of inspection, at approximately two-year intervals, testify that the book has been viewed, and that the absence of record is not the result of failure to keep the book up to date but indicates that no corporal punishment was administered during the period covered by this volume.