PUPILS who consistently misbehave could be made to spend a whole day in isolation.

The system, which is being tested at Sir Charles Lucas Arts College, in Hawthorn Avenue, Greenstead, has been put in place to crack down on pupils who fail to attend after-school detention.

Under the new “isolation” scheme, pupils who fail to attend four detentions will be forced to spend an entire day in the college “exclusion room”.

The school has also recently had to exclude two 14-year-old boys permanently for bad behaviour.

Speaking at a recent community meeting in Greenstead, headteacher Jude Hanner said: “There comes a time in every school where you have to say enough is enough.

“People are there to learn and, if children are disturbing that with constant bad behaviour, then we have to take action.”

Ms Hanner said it was hoped the boys would be taken on by another school.

She said: “Hopefully, they will have learned a lesson by that time.”

Referring to the isolation trial, Ms Hanner added: “We had a system where a subject teacher would give a pupil a detention.

“The problem was that very often the pupil wouldn’t attend and would then have to attend a senior member of staff’s detention on a Friday after school instead.

“They seemed to prefer this option because they could sit the detention at a later date and it was only half an hour longer.”

She added: “It is really about giving teachers more empowerment.

“Now pupils have to attend the detention put in place by the class teacher because the punishment is much harsher than it would have been in the past.”