NRS-17128 | Punishment Book [Neath 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 in which corporal punishment was given 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 series consists of a single volume, in which are recorded all cases of corporal punishment occurring at the school. The regulations relating to corporal punishment stated that “it is expected that in Infants’ Departments and sections … corporal punishment should be rendered unnecessary by the teachers’ methods of government and instruction,” and it is noticeable that this volume does not cover the years from 1913 until the end of 1916, when the school at Neath operated only as an Infants’ School. A witnessed record of the intransigence of one offender has been entered into the volume in June, 1932, and an undated note from another offender has been pinned to p.15.