Would you rather be pressed like St. Margaret Clitherow or hanged like St. Anne Line?

How does your school inform small children of their fate? Will the Head tell a 6 year old he is going to be put in the book? Or will he be put on the board?

Only when a child with language impairment innocently enquires, ‘Will you put my whole body in the book?’ does it become evident that the nature of the punishment is not quite understood.

This lad quite thought he’d got away with it when he heard it was only going to be his name.

He didn’t realise it was a severe reprimand dreaded by others to be ‘put in the book’. So, in one way, he had the last laugh – he had escaped a nasty squashing incident. But, in another, he was led astray yet again by his problems with language usage and could not judge the misdeed that led to the penalty in a suitably serious manner.

If this is ‘all’ that happens, might he be persuaded by others more savvy than him to do things which might one day end in real trouble?