When Emily Clarke obtains a teaching position at Meadowfields School, she finds the tyrannical Headmistress to be stern and unwelcoming. It is 1948, in the days when corporal punishment was an accepted part of school life, and Meadowfields School for girls is no exception. The pupils are subject to a strict code of discipline and are caned and slippered for the smallest misdemeanour. Emily settles down in her new role and quickly learns how to wield a cane to good effect, yet she also develops an empathy with the girls and has their well-being at heart.

This story charts Emily's career progression as she moves up through the ranks, despite objections from some of the staff and governors; it also portrays what life was like in a girls' boarding school in a bygone era, an era when stern female authority figures ensured that proper discipline was enforced. Life isn't all about spanking though: there are hockey matches and prep, prefects and pillow fights, outdoor exercise in all weathers, and cocoa with Matron. Take a nostalgic trip down memory lane and read what it was like to be a pupil in a school with strict corporal punishment.