My Secondary Modern school ruled that every boy who didn't wear a (somewhat expensive) school tie – should be sent home for part of the day, and if it happened three times we were caned.
When we entered the second form, we all were forced to wear school blazers (also expensive – out of reach for my parents).
It was a constant battle between the school authorities and the poorer parents, including my own, who genuinely couldn't afford one.
They never resorted to caning for failure, but the constant humiliation we were subjected to (particularly by the gangs of better off boys) often made caning a preferred alternative.

Most schools were like that.
No-one had to attend a Catholic school.
You had the choice.