Head who gave out 717 detentions in four days invokes fury of parents who say 'it's not a prison'

Strict: Catherine Jenkinson-Dix has been accused of turning City of Ely Community College 'into a prison'

A headmistress who introduced a ‘zero-tolerance policy’ to improve standards in her school has handed out 717 detentions in four days.

Catherine Jenkinson-Dix has won the support of many parents after deciding to punish misdemeanours including smoking, chewing gum, eating between lessons, carrying mobile phones, applying excessive make-up and insubordination.

A strict uniform policy was also announced under which individualistic touches such as odd socks or wearing hoodies in class would be banned.Anyone breaking the rules would be sent immediately to the school hall for five hours where they would have to read a booklet about good behaviour.

On Monday, the first day of the policy, 236 children – a fifth of pupils at City of Ely Community College in Cambridgeshire – were punished. On Tuesday the figure was 186, on Wednesday it was 180 and yesterday it was 115.

Supporters of the regime say the diminishing figures prove it is working. But the crackdown has divided parents, with some calling it draconian and others saying that old-fashioned discipline will be reflected in academic achievement.

Crackdown: City of Ely Community College in Cambridgeshire

Sophie Martin, 38, backed the school despite her son Jack, 14, being given a detention on Monday for talking when he was meant to be reading a book. She said: ‘He learned not to do it again and he hasn’t been back since.

‘The number of children in the hall has been going down every day so it proves it is working.

‘Teenagers need guidelines and they always push the boundaries. If they know what the guidelines are they behave themselves.’

A parent of a 15-year-old boy said: ‘There are plenty who agree with what the school is doing.

‘Yes, the children that get detentions miss classes, but my son said that after several hours bored out of their skulls with nothing to do most of them actually want to be back in class. I think it’s a stroke of genius.’

Karris Hanslip, 13, has now been taken out of school by mother Ruth

However, florist Amanda King, 34, took her children, Ben, 12, and Shannon, 14, out of classes on Wednesday and is now looking for a new school. She said her son had been given a detention for arriving late to a French lesson.

‘I’m absolutely appalled. They are wrecking pupils’ education and turning it into a prison,’ she said. ‘Staff are nit-picking over everything – for behaviour, for what they wear.’

Ruth Hanslip, 47, has stopped sending her daughter Karris, 13, to the school after she was punished on three consecutive days for laughing, wearing a bracelet and carrying a mobile phone.

She said: ‘We’d both had enough. They don’t give them any work to do and my daughter is now missing out on her school work.’



Karris said: ‘They gave me a little book to read but the rest of the time I was just sat staring at the wall.’