Boys caned after walkout protest about discipline
Public
school
boys
in
walkout
FIFTEEN boys staged a walkout from a public [elite]
school as a protest about discipline.
Last night three were still missing. The others had
gone back to school – and a caning.
The walkout was staged on Monday by boys, aged
fourteen to sixteen, in the third, fourth and fifth forms of West Buckland
School, near South Molton, Devon.
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It came after a master, acting on a tip-off, made a
late night search in a dormitory. He confiscated three air pistols.
The fifth form’s lockers and desks were also searched.
“There was no ringleader in the walkout,” a pupil said
yesterday. “Boys just wandered off in groups.
“It wasn’t only the air pistols. Some of the boys
think one of the masters is too snoopy – but discipline isn’t really tough.”
The pupil added: “Some of the boys walked. Others
hitched lifts. They got as far as Tiverton, Yeovil and Taunton.
Protest
“The idea was to get to London and stay there for a
week, in protest.”
Some of the boys went back to school of their own
accord. Others were picked up by the police.
Two of the three boys still missing last night are
15-year-olds. The other is sixteen.
The school’ headmaster, Mr. Leslie Stephens, said:
“This is a purely internal matter. I am not going to say anything.”
As published in the Daily
Mirror, 2 November 1966.
Picture credit: Armada Books.
Cane on their naughty bottoms well derserved for having air pistols!
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