There were lots of solemn faces at morning assembly yesterday as Clyde School pupils were reintroduced to the cane.
All 130 pupils and staff dressed in period costume as part of the lead-up to the school's 150th jubilee celebrations this weekend. Discipline was to the fore as they spent their school day along similar lines to those of their ancestors a century and a-half ago.
Principal Doug White wielded the cane and had to mete out some ''punishment'' to pupil Conor Stumbles at assembly for the crime of ''having his hands in his pockets''.
''Assembly was very quiet - you could've heard a pin drop,'' he said.
The solemn faces soon gave way to smiles, however, as the children tried out some traditional games such as marbles and hopscotch.
''Marbles is nowhere near as easy as it looks,'' was how Kaleb Jackson (11) summed up his efforts. Central Stories Museum and Art Gallery project manager Rachel Checketts, who is also a schoolteacher, gave the pupils a taste of an 1860s-style classroom.
Pupils had to line up outside for fingernail and collar inspection before being allowed into the room. The lesson started with a prayer and then the children did handwriting, arithmetic and spelling.
''They had to sit up straight and there was no talking unless I talked to them first - it was a very different day for some,'' Miss Checketts said.
''It was a very silent, serious classroom.''
About 240 people with links to the school will attend the jubilee assembly, cake-cutting and school dance tonight . A picnic tomorrow, as well as a market day which is open to the public, will round off the celebrations. Everything takes place in the school grounds.
