Spare the Rod

John Saunders (Bygraves) is a supply teacher at Worrell Street School in a socially deprived area of East London. He is assigned a class of pupils in their last year before leaving school. His view that corporal punishment is the only way to maintain some semblance of order in the classrooms is anathema to Saunders. Saunders's teaching colleagues are all resistant to any change in the school's punishment policy.