That reminds me of some of the dodgy things that went on when attended a junior school in the late 1970s. My parents kept sending me to a non special school against expert advice and I had a terrible time throughout all my school days, but before I moved to a better school at 10 years old when my parents moved home I had an even worse time due to genuine abuse from the teachers at this particular junior school which I won't name here.
I remember a teacher named Mrs Jones who took us outside into the playground, she then ordered the class to hold our arms out and spin around in circles and she wouldn't let us stop. This went on and on and we all felt very giddy wanting to stop, but she just demanded that we went faster and it became torturous, many of us started feeling ill, but she still shouted and demanded that we continue and it felt like forever. Finally she let us stop and most of us including myself were feeling very sick while some kids were in fact throwing up, but she had absolutely no sympathy and went nuts at anyone who dared to throw up forcing them to clean it up, she then demanded we went inside to write about what it feels like to feel ill. This was obviously abuse and this kind of thing was very common.
The very same Mrs Jones used to enjoy sitting in the hot sun and often used to make us go to the outside grass or sometimes even the nearby park where she would totally relax and sunbath, but she didn't let us do our own thing, instead she insisted we all stayed in the hot sun to work and despite being extremely thirsty, overheated and sometimes even sun burnt, she continued to demand that we sit in the sun, threatening any children that dared to go into the shade. It was torturous and it was obviously another case of abuse.
The school used to have a regular school disco after school which was supposed to be optional and I didn't feel comfortable attending. It cost just 10 pence to attend and the head teacher Mr. Gospel kept saying how we were supporting the school by going and how important this was, they severely pressured us to go. I couldn't face going and actually gave them their 10p for a ticket, but still sneaked out of school at the end. The next day the kids that didn't attend including myself were forced to stand up in assembly to be screamed at very nastily by Mr. Gospel and another psychotic teacher called Mrs Burn who specifically shouted at me saying that she hopes I get nothing for Christmas in front of the school.
The previous head master Mr. Barwell was one of the few teachers that appeared to be reasonably stable, but after about 1 year he sadly retired and the new headmaster Mr. Gospel seemed to fit in much "better" with the rest of the abusive staff. In assembly Mr. Barwell once asked me a question which I responded to in the best way I could, I can't remember exactly what it was about, except that the head master laughed and was perfectly happy with my answer. After the assembly Mrs Jones started shouting and criticising my response saying that I had let down the class. She then demanded that the rest of the class totally ignore me for the rest of the day as a punishment. Looking back I think Mr. Barwell would have been shocked if he knew exactly what was going on as it seemed to be mainly hidden behind his back as otherwise I surely would have been punished in front of the headmaster.
There was a teacher called Miss Darby who a few years ago was still listed as being a teacher at the school, assuming it's the same teacher she would had been close to retirement age and probably would have retired by now. She was often all over the little boys, literally forcing them to kiss her. She used to make a big thing of it and often sent for who she called her "favourites" even when they were in other classes, she would go on how lovely they were while forcing them to kiss her and she'd often say things like just one more time, hugging them repeatedly, but looking back the children were actually frightened and had no choice but to comply. It was extremely dodgy to say the very least and if she was like that openly I only wonder what she might have been like if she was ever with boys in private. I'm glad I was never one of her "favourite" boys.
At Christmas we were all made to make a Christmas card and it was then given to a random girl decided by a drawn raffle ticket. This wasn't the issue, the issue was the teachers then demanded that we kissed the girl, I didn't want to and didn't feel comfortable, but I remember a teacher physically holding us together while I was trying to fight to get away.
I remember when a child wet himself in class and Mrs Jones forced another child to clean it up in front of her for her amusement, she did actually get criticised my a disgusted parent who later found out and I remember my parents criticising her actions too, but nothing changed.
My parents had a severe problem with the school because I was repeatedly screamed at by the headmaster in his office simply because the corners of my school book were turned up (not flat), they amazingly sent for my parents about the issue who were shocked that I was being severely punished for this (I was a 9 year old aspie at the time). My parents drew the teachers attention to the good work inside the book which they didn't seem to even care about, the school was always more interested in pure presentation than any actual work content.
Miss Burn who I mentioned earlier used to do nothing but scream and threaten us, often with violence, she would often tell us that she was "in a bad mood today" so we're not allowed to speak and if anyone dared to as much as whisper she would go nuts and sometimes strike them. It was normal to be slapped and hit by the staff, but this was "legal" in those days. Apparently Miss Burn was divorced and had a lot of boy friend troubles which she often complained about when she took it out on the children. The newer headmaster Mr. Gospel used to hit his fair share of children too and would often work closely with Miss Burn, I for instance remember him hitting 1 child in assembly on stage so hard that his strike literally launched him across the stage to finally fall.
I used to get bullied, something that I had to put up with throughout all my school life for being different, but at this junior school the teachers wouldn't listen and just had a go at me for asking for help, often even telling me to stand up for myself. Once at lunch time I remember going inside to get away from bullies when inside was normally out of bounds at this time, but I was shouted at and forced to go back outside even though I told them I was being attacked.
This is just a small amount of what went on and abuse was a daily occurrence at this school, this is however nothing to the abuse my friend received when he was a child in the "care system" and at boarding school which makes my old junior school look like total paradise, it wouldn't be fair to detail this here, but it is nothing short of shocking (I suspect my friend is on the autistic spectrum, although so far not diagnosed).
In the 1970s I believe abuse at British schools was much more common place and was rarely investigated back then, in fact if any children dared mention anything about abuse they'd usually be the ones to be punished. Not all schools were like this however as after I moved home at 10 years old my new Junior school was a lot better. I for instance remember when my pencil broke and I was frightened when I had to ask the teacher about it because at my old junior school we were normally shouted at and sometimes slapped if a pen stopped working or a pencil broke because apparently we weren't looking after school property, but the teacher just gave me another without any issue what-so-ever, I remember being relieved and very surprised, my new school was so different in a good way that after a while I realised how much we was being abused at my old school.
