The school was Kostka Hall, Brighton, Victoria, which is a preparatory school to Xavier College, Kew. The quotes are taken from ‘Kostka: Xavier by the Sea’ by Helen Penrose and Catherine Waterhouse, published in 1997.
‘Father McCurtin was already seventy-two years old when he began at Kostka. He was gentle and cheerful, with a keen sense of humour. “He didn’t teach the younger boys in class. He was very fatherly and chatty. I remember he used to come and talk to the boys, but mainly the big boys.” Some Kostka boys remember him as particularly strict – he strapped boys at assembly in front of the whole school for serious offences.’
‘Mr Carroll, master and prefect of discipline at Kostka from 1937 to 1940, slept in St John’s with the boarders. “Once we were ready for bed, we would sit on our beds in a circle around him. He would read us something like ‘The Lives of the Saints’ and then something humorous, usually Wodehouse.” He was also in charge of maintaining law and order at night and would walk around the house for about half an hour after ‘lights out’ until he was sure all the boys were asleep. Brian McCarthy remembers that “he could lose his temper and he could hand out the strap indiscriminately, so if you though of mucking about in the boarding house after lights were out with Carroll, you knew that if you were caught you were going to get slammed.’
‘To younger boys Father Craig “had wrinkles and silvery-coloured hair, and was a very stern looking man. We knew that he had a big strap; he didn’t use it much, but when he did, it hurt.”‘
‘Father Michael Fitzgibbon taught at Kostka throughout this exciting period of rebuilding and regeneration. He began at Kostka in 1954, teaching French, History, Latin and Religion. He was a genial, witty soul, with a sterner side, but he also offered wise counsel to those in need. Affectionately known as ‘Fitzy’, he went to class armed with a strap in his pocket. The strap ‘mysteriously’ disappeared one day after a class of boys had experienced its sting. Until recently its whereabouts had never been revealed, until another teacher confessed to having confiscated it.’
‘Mrs Mitchell was a small woman, gaining from some cheeky boys the name of ‘Pipsqueak’. Michael Corrigan remembers Miss Mitchell as delightful but reasonably strict. By 1964 she was teaching Grade 3; a dear lady, caring, and a person whom Michael Rush remembers with real affection. “Miss Mitchell was a very small person in stature. I recall one day as a class (which numbered around forty-three) walking to the old chapel situated in Maritima.
Walking behind Miss Mitchell I passed a comment to a fellow student that I was taller than her. She paused, turned around, and pointing to her temple said that what mattered most was who was the bigger in there. Her discipline was that of a ruler on the knuckles. The only way of lessening the punishment was by way of raising your hand as high as you could, making it difficult for her to strike.”‘
‘Classrooms were also the site of much of the disciplining of boys that seemed necessary. The ethos of discipline was not simply one of punishment, but one that pervaded all aspects of schooling, finding expression, for example, in imposed periods of silence or marching in lines. Most students and staff recall that punishment at Kostka in the first thirty years or so varied, but was rarely sadistic. In comparison with contemporary schools, including Burke Hall, Kostka’s use of corporal punishment was always relatively lenient.
Until recent years many Jesuits and some lay staff used the strap to punish certain kinds of misbehaviour – never more than six cuts per boy per day was the rule. Penals, a form of detention in which students were usually set lines to write, was another form of discipline. But for most student it is use of the strap that has made the deepest impression. On Bryan Lefebvre’s first day of school, for example, Father Craig came over to the classrooms to talk to the school.
“He said he would start to tell us about the Jesuit traditions, about how discipline was most important for boys, and that while you were under the Jesuits at Kostka, and later at Xavier, discipline was the most important thing in the school program. He said, “There are a few rules around here. One rule for you younger boys is that you are not allowed to climb trees”, and he pointed to the two big Cyprus trees that used to be between Maritima and the classrooms.”” Inevitably, of course, one of the new boys decided to put this to the test, and when caught several branches up was sent home for the day after receiving four cuts for his trouble.
In the 1970s there was no written policy in relation to discipline, which was approached much as it had been in earlier years and was mainly based on responding to boys’ unacceptable behaviour such as homework not done, disobedience or misbehaviour in the yard. Penals were held twice a week after school, and the strap – only ever used by male staff – was gradually being used less. Peter Hawkins, who was appointed to attend to disciplinary matters, began at Kostka in 1971.
He had taught previously at St Patrick’s College where he was Prefect of Discipline. He also taught Geography, History, and later Latin to Years 7 and 8, and introduced the study of Civics into the school curriculum. Students and parents remember him as a reliable and highly organised teacher and as an excellent sports coach. By his presence in the school as a long-serving teacher he has sought to find creative solutions to discipline and behavioural policy.
