SCHOOL DISCIPLINE

School discipline is breaking down more than ever because pupils find lessons too boring. Fed-up kids run amok and cost classmates up to three hours’ education a week through time-wasting, noise and disorder. Behaviour is so bad that Britain now lags behind most other nations in the developed world’s discipline league. We have plunged from 13th to 24th as hard-working rivals leapfrog us. The grim picture of secondary schools torn apart by disruption is painted in a global study by the Oganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. It came just a month after failed ex-Education Secretary Estelle Morris pledged a crackdown on bad behaviour.

Four out of ten kids admitted that more than five minutes are spent doing NOTHING at the start of each class. Around 27% of 15-year-olds complained of “noise and disorder” throughout lessons. Almost a third - 31% - said their teachers had to wait a long time for students to settle down. And more than half of all children, a shocking 54%, admitted they often felt bored. Of 32 major countries surveyed only kids in Australia, Canada, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal and Spain wasted more time. We lag behind nations such as Latvia, Poland and Liechtenstein in the discipline table, which is topped by Russia.

Derbyshire is to get an extra £6m to pay for new facilities at two county schools and a new unit for excluded pupils in Derby. Derby will get £1.85m from the Government towards a purpose-built pupil referral unit, costing £2.4m, for youngsters expelled from secondary schools. Swanwick Hall School, in Derby Road, Swanwick, is to get £1.6m to build a new library, music and information technology facilities, costing £2.05m and John Port School, in Main Street, Etwall, will get £2.59m towards a £3.45m block to replace temporary classrooms. Simon Longley, city council assistant education director, said it was a relief to receive the cash for the pupil referral unit, after the Government turned down a request for funding in 2003.

Excluded city pupils are now housed in accommodation at the former Village Community School site, in Village Street, and at a building in Newton's Walk, Derby. The new building, on a city centre site yet to be decided, will accommodate up to 90 part-time pupils and is likely to be developed with other agencies, such as the Youth Offending Team. It will have six classrooms, a hall, three group meeting rooms and an outdoor play area and cater for pupils aged 11 to 14. It could be opened by September 2005. Unruly primary-age pupils will no longer require a dedicated specialist unit, as the city council expects to create individual behaviour centres in schools over the next 18 months.

Mr Longley said, "This cash injection means that we will be able to set up a centre that can operate seven days a week and concentrate on working with families as well as youngsters. This should help secondary schools in the city by supporting any pupils that are giving them concern." The additional cash for John Port School comes just days after Derbyshire County Council announced the school is to receive another £1.5m for rebuilding. It will enable the school and county council to look at ways in which both sums of money can be combined to maximise accommodation and space at the school.

The school has been under increasing pressure to admit more pupils from the Hilton area after a recent intensive bout of house building. The money will be used to provide extra classrooms, a learning resource centre and new accommodation for the school sixth form. Head teacher Michael Crane said, "This is fantastic news for the school. It means that we can now demolish 22 temporary classrooms and replace them with state-of-the-art buildings. It also means that we will be able to pursue our goal of providing enhanced facilities for the benefit of the community."

Pupils could be locked in at lunchtimes to stop them terrorising town centres. Some pupils could be trusted to behave on breaks but Education Secretary Charles Clarke said, "I would prefer pupils to stay on unless there is a good reason not to. We know that some can't. They end up playing truant or get in trouble." Heads would be encouraged to set up lunch-hour sports sessions and organise activities. He said teachers believe pupils' behaviour and achievement improve if they are at school all day.

Forty pupils were suspended from school after taking part in a giant snowball fight. The kids were banned for two days after motorists complained they bombarded cars driving past the playground. Kenneth Dyer, deputy head of St Mary’s RC School in Longbenton, Newcastle upon Tyne, said, “The public are fed up to the back teeth with the bad behaviour of a tiny minority of students. We are not killjoys but you have to question the motivation of those who chose to target people.” Motorist Peter Renwick said, “Children were raining snowballs across the road and at cars, it was an absolute disgrace. Somebody could have swerved and killed themselves.”

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