Education Minister Paula Cox is hoping to introduce a rash of “radical” proposals to deal with discipline problems in public schools - and said she hoped a new facility for badly behaved children could soon be found.

In an exclusive interview with The Royal Gazette, Ms Cox said that since teachers at CedarBridge Academy held a sit-in at the school before Christmas over rising discipline problems, she had been working with her Ministry to come up with solutions.

She said she had spoken at length with the CedarBridge administration, board, principal and teachers to get to the bottom of the issues, and hoped to take her proposals to Cabinet soon.

She said: “Things seem to have settled down since the teachers took that unprecedented action in having a sit-in.

“I think it sent a clear message that enough already. I think the fact that you have also had the very public statements by the parents' association that they will also be holding fellow parents accountable have been helpful.”

But Ms Cox said a Code of Conduct was also being drafted for all schools to follow, which resulted from the march on Parliament in June last year over rising discipline problems in schools.

She said: “People are now talking much more readily about the issues pertaining to discipline. It's been seen that it isn't purely a teacher problem, but also parents and families.

“I think you will see in some of the events which will unfold in the next couple of months some things that are radical in terms of what we are going to do further to that.”

However, she said she would remain tight-lipped until the ideas had been put to Cabinet.

She added: “A Minister can have all the ideas they want but until they have been ratified and sanctioned by Cabinet, it's very naughty to talk about them because I would be almost blackmailing my colleagues who may take a totally different view.

“All I can say is that I think they are radical. I don't think from the school, (their proposals) are as radical as from myself.”

But Ms Cox said the idea of providing a separate facility for badly behaved students had already been endorsed by the Education Ministry.

She said the Island previously had the CADET scheme to deal with out of control children, and now there was an alternative facility in a temporary home. However, that only caters for about eight children at a time.

She added: “I think the issue is in terms of numbers and having to identify and secure a place that can hold the numbers that will be required. I think that is something that is being looked at.”

She said she was unable to say how many children the school should cater for. She said between 50 and 60 pupils were identified as being out of control by teachers at CedarBridge, which has a student population of 980, but she said a more realistic number would be 20 percent less than that.

However, she said there were also other schools to consider.

“When looking at the proportionality, it's a not a large number, which is why it's particularly irritating and aggravating to parents, teachers and students. When you see that there is so much going on that is exciting and invigorating in terms of what the students are doing, it's almost like in one fell swoop they can be targeted or seen as non-performers, when actually, the contrary is true.”

When asked whether she had considered the present Berkeley Institute as a possible option for the alternative school, she said it was doubtful and “not her choice”.

Berkeley will become vacant in September of next year when the new $70 million school opens across the street.

Ms Cox said the issue of what to do with the Berkeley Institute “required a multi-layered approach” because the school had a board of governors, along with the Berkeley Society, which wished to preserve the old school's culture and history.