MP and governors welcome new school powers


20 April 2007

Don Valley MP Caroline Flint has backed new powers that come into force this week to improve discipline in schools.

Supporters of the new powers, which are part of the Education & Inspections Act, say they will be a great help to teachers and to school governors.

The Bill will ensure the right of staff to enforce their right to work, and pupils' rights to learn, in a respectful environment free from disruption. There will be new legal powers to discipline pupils.

· Schools will have the legal right to confiscate inappropriate items from pupils such as mobile phones or music players where they disrupt school lessons.
· The right of staff to restrain pupils to prevent violent pupils causing harm to others or themselves will be reinforced.
· Parenting contracts will be extended so governing bodies can offer support to parents of badly behaved children, prior to exclusion.
· Governing Bodies will be given the ability to apply for parenting orders that compel parents to take more responsibility for their children's behaviour.
· Parents will be required to take responsibility for a child during the first five days of their exclusion with fixed penalty notices used to penalise parents who still let their children go out in public without good cause during school hours.

Said Caroline Flint: "Every parent wants their child to be educated in a safe, interesting and open classroom. That means that the school needs good discipline, for the good of the whole class. That is exactly what the new powers reinforce."

Andrea Milner, Labour's candidate for Rossington, said the new powers were one of many things done to improve educational standards: "In Doncaster, we are seeing schools being built and modernised, we have state of the art equipment and more staff than ever. Good discipline, so pupil's learning is not disrupted by others, is a vital ingredient to every school's success. I will be meeting the Rossington All Saints Headteacher soon to discuss how the new powers will work."

And Hatfield Visual Arts College's longest serving governor, Ken Knight said: "These powers build on the excellent lead given by schools like Hatfield, where bus journeys are supervised, pupils are kept in school at lunchtime, and the atmosphere in school is all about learning."