This book includes several short stories concerning the punishments received by misbehaving English sixth-form schoolgirls during visits to their headmistress. Additional stories provide the perspective of a firm but fair headmistress as she administers the discipline necessary to keep up the high standards of her school.
Letting the School Down
A modern-minded headmistress tries to stay neutral while dealing with a feud between the games mistress and the captain of the school hockey team, but in the end the girl’s unladylike language makes a caning inevitable.
Midsummer Madness
After winning the house cup for netball the girls of Cavell House behave wildly in the common room, to the point that their house mistress finds herself obliged to cane the principle culprit.
The Gentle Woman
A head mistress who does not believe in corporal punishment for girls is forced to make an exception after mischief by some of her students on a school trip risks damage to the school’s reputation.
Arson
When several of her students are accused of arson after an ill-advised excursion with boys from a nearby school, a headmistress is forced to decide whether to leave the issue to the police or take the matter of a proper punishment for the girls into her own hands.
Thirty Years After
On her final day at her school, a retiring headmistress recalls having to cane two girls for bullying on her very first day at the school many years ago.
The Well of Loneliness
With the help of a shy sixth-form girl, a headmistress uncovers the bullying of a lesbian student and then deals sternly with the culprits.
The Martyr
A teacher-in-training is falsely accused of theft and receives a hard spanking, after which she must explain to her headmaster why she has ceased attending church.
Twice Six
The passing of her old headmistress prompts a distinguished professor to remember vividly a punishment she received long ago during her school days.
Publisher’s Note: While the stories contained in Visits to the Headmistress share a school setting, it is made clear in all of them that the characters are over the age of eighteen. In addition to realistic depictions of corporal punishment as it was used in English schools in past years, some of the stories also include sexual scenes.