Why teachers at this ill-fated comprehensive will strike unless a tenth of their pupils are expelled

The sprawling buildings of The Ridings School were empty yesterday, apart from a handful of workmen doing half-term maintenance. Outside the gates, a gaggle of small boys had gathered, wheeling around on bikes and feeding small half-truths to the waiting press. On the edge of a Halifax council estate, the latest act in the great school discipline drama was being unravelled.

Most of the main players were elsewhere, but it still seemed that this rather bleak collection of brick, concrete and pre-fab might hold a key to something. Why had a school, opened amid unbounded enthusiasm less than two years ago, spun into decline so fast that staff may strike unless 60 pupils are excluded or disciplined? Why did a head who once talked of "wonderful opportunities" and of "looking to the 21st century" resign last Friday, complaining of exhaustion and disappointment? And, more crucially, was the crisis at The Ridings just a symptom of a rising tide of indiscipline and moral decay among the nation's youth?

The answer to the last question is almost certainly "no", but the story of this ill-fated comprehensive may indeed hold some lessons for those involved in an increasingly pressing debate on how we should cope with disruptive pupils.

All the elements are here. Stones thrown at teachers, staff punched and kicked by pupils, even a pregnant 13-year-old excluded after a fight with her boyfriend. This could be the perfect tale of social disintegration in the 1990s: just the thing that Frances Lawrence, whose head teacher husband, Philip, was murdered outside his London comprehensive last December, has been talking about.

But, of course, things are never quite that simple. Even the staff of The Ridings, who have announced a ballot on industrial action after a number of violent incidents, say the majority of their 600 pupils are nothing short of a delight.

And if a general lack of prayer and stiff upper lip were entirely to blame, a cynic might be forgiven for asking how some inner-city schools manage to impose a calm, orderly atmosphere without having to rid themselves of a tenth of their pupils.

This school was never going to be an easy proposition. Created in January 1995 from two council estate comprehensives, each of them with falling rolls and declining reputations, it was bound to find itself with many of the area's most difficult teenagers.

Nor were the surroundings into which these pupils were deposited likely to inspire. Behind an imposing Art Deco front flanked by foliage-lined steps, even an extra pounds 4.5 million pro- mised by Calderdale council for a facelift has been unable to eradicate cramped conditions and poor facilities. The site is so open that staff have had to put up with abuse from members of the public during games lessons, and truants can easily wander away.

Despite all this, things seem- ed to go smoothly enough for the first year or so. Exam results were poor last year and a third of the pupils left with no qualifications whatsoever, but with the merger just six months before GCSE time, this could be forgiven. Head-teacher Karen Stansfield and her staff brought in a programme called "Discipline for Learning" - highly successful elsewhere - and tried to order their pupils' lives around a rigid system of sanctions and rewards. So far, so good.

It was in January this year that Brian Garvey, local executive member of the National Association of Schoolmasters/ Union of Women Teachers, was first called in.

"There had been a few problems with assaults on staff, but they were generally dealt with quite amicably," he said. "In most cases the pupils were removed and other forms of education were found for them." He believes a discipline clampdown at that stage could have prevented the current situation.

Then, in March, 13 year-old Sarah Taylor was excluded after a fight with her boyfriend in which a member of staff was allegedly pushed. An appeals committee overturned the decision but her parents agreed to withdraw her after 31 members of the NASUWT, who make up the majority of staff, threatened to strike. Ten days ago Sarah, who had been hiding her pregnancy, gave birth to a baby girl.

But the conclusion of this incident last month did not bring an end to the school's troubles. Staff began to report that a minority of pupils were rejecting the school's disciplinary system and were out of control. Truancy levels were too high, they said, cars were often vandalised and fireworks had been thrown in the grounds.

By now, Mr Garvey had become a regular visitor and a further ballot on industrial action was called.

Schools inspectors, due in December, are bound to have many criticisms. Yesterday, the education secretary, Gillian Shephard, said that if their visit had not already been fixed, she would have sent in an emergency team. The local authority has promised extra money and support.

It would be easy to read too much into this sad story of a school in trouble. The pressures under which the school battles are well-documented. Unemployment here is high, single-parent families are common. Grant-maintained schools are creaming off some of the best pupils and disciplinary sanctions, which teachers claim used to work - indefinite exclusion, for example - are no longer available.

However, all these problems exist elsewhere and they do not add up to a crisis of this scale.

Yesterday, the chair of governors, Reverend Stan Brown, was not giving interviews or, for that matter, clues as to the root of the trouble. A message on his answer-phone bore a faintly exasperated tone: "There are 600 sensible pupils at The Ridings School who deserve a great deal better than the attention they are being given at the present time. We will work in their best interests," it said.

Pupils v teachers

A question of discipline

DECEMBER 1995 - Head teacher Philip Lawrence is murdered outside St George's School, Maida Vale, north London, as he tries to defend a pupil from a knife attack.

APRIL 1996: Staff at Glaisdale School, Nottingham, threaten strike action after 13-year-old Richard Wilding is excluded for allegedly attacking both teachers and pupils, but is returned by an appeals panel. Action is averted by a deal in which Richard is taught in a special unit and at home but remains on roll.

MAY: Graham Cram, aged 12, is returned to Hebburn Comprehensive in South Tyneside by an appeals panel after allegedly kicking a teacher. Teachers threaten action, but the boy is allowed back in isolation.

JULY: Teachers at Manton Primary School in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, announce a ballot after governors overturn the head's decision to exclude Matthew Wilson, a disruptive 10-year-old.

SEPTEMBER More than 30 children are kept away from Manton in protest at the governors' action. Matthew is promised individual tuition at a cost of pounds 14,000 a year.

SEPTEMBER: Andrew Eaton, aged seven, is awarded legal aid to challenge his expulsion from Wellacre Infants' School, in Trafford, Greater Manchester. He had refused to sign a "good behaviour" contract after apparently biting a teacher and hitting and kicking other children. His parents say he is hyperactive.

OCTOBER: Teachers at Fearns County High School hold ballots after an appeals panel overturns the exclusion of a teenage boy who has hit a teacher on the nose.

OCTOBER: Staff at The Ridings say they will take action unless 60 of their 600 pupils are excluded or disciplined. They say order in the school has broken down. The head and one of two deputies resign.