Readers respond to an article by Sebastian Doggart on being flogged at Eton and share their own experiences of corporal punishement at school

Sebastian Doggart’s article resonated with me (‘It gives me no pleasure, but I am going to have to beat you’: was I the last boy to be flogged at Eton?, 25 May). I had the dubious honour of being the first pupil to be beaten (or receive the “whacks” as we used to call it) by the newly appointed headmaster of my prep school, when I was also 13. Separately, the deputy headmaster was an enthusiastic administrant of the hairbrush whacks, but unlike the claim from the Eton teacher that he derived no pleasure, in my situation, on several occasions I remember having the distinct feeling that one of us was most definitely enjoying it (and it wasn’t me). Being the same age as the author, I know exactly what he experienced, in a very dark time of appalling treatment of children who were entrusted by their parents to these individuals and institutions.
Dr Julian Stone
Buckland, Oxfordshire

• I despaired at the response of Tony Little, questioned during his tenure as headmaster of Eton in 2002-15 about the school’s practice of flogging, which had ended years before. Sebastian Doggart gave an account of his brutal abuse, and asked Little if it was something the school should be ashamed of. “It was a different time,” Little said. “It’s hard to get back into the mindset of what happened 25 … years ago.” No, it’s not. Tap anyone over 50 on the shoulder and ask them.
Lynne Scrimshaw
London

UK government allows British private schools in countries like UAE to use BSO kitemark while not teaching about same-sex relationships

Ministers are allowing private schools abroad to brand themselves as “British schools” despite not teaching about same-sex relationships, equality or drug abuse as required in England, the Guardian has learned.

Overseas schools are able to be officially accredited as “British Schools Overseas” (BSO) by the Department for Education (DfE). This came after the government U-turned and exempted them from using the same curriculum it requires in England if doing so would conflict with local laws.

Christine Maxwell on Mike Harris’s alternative suggestion to Labour’s plan for VAT on private schools

Mike Harris (Scrap the plan for VAT on private schools, Labour. Just let low-income kids attend instead, 20 May) suggests that independent schools should give free places to low-income children to avoid paying VAT and that independent schools are saving the state £8,000 a year per pupil. This is wrong for the following reasons:

1. State schools will still need to exist, albeit with fewer pupils. This would result in budget cuts for them as their income is directly linked to the number of pupils on their rolls. In order to run effectively, they would have to cut staff, or the state would have to increase the amount paid per pupil.

‘Heavy-handed’ crackdown ignores underlying reasons for failure to attend classes, say critics

Some schools in England are sending police to the homes of children who are persistently absent, or warning them their parents may go to prison if their attendance doesn’t improve, the Observer has learned.

Headteachers say they are now under intense pressure from the government to turn around the crisis in attendance, with a record 150,000 children at state schools classed as severely absent in 2022-23. From September, all state schools in England will have to share their attendance records every day with the Department for Education.