All appeals against the suspension of students from public school were quashed in the last year, the Education Minister has revealed.

told the House of Assembly on Monday that parents appealed the suspensions for bad behaviour ? six from senior schools and four from middle schools ? on a number of grounds.

Reasons given included that the penalty was too harsh, that the school?s investigative procedures were faulty and that the child was defending himself.

Under the Ministry of Education?s Code of Conduct for Students 2003, appeals are made by parents to the Minister of Education and the suspended child can return to school until the appeal hearing.

Mr. Lister said: ?Of the ten appeals heard this school year, the schools? point of view and actions were supported in all cases.

?This statistic suggests that, for the most part, principals are using and having a good understanding of the Code of Conduct 2003 and are conducting thorough investigations before concluding that students have committed infractions.?

He said the code was under review at the moment.

Principals have the power to suspend pupils for five days but if they feel the student needs a harsher penalty an extended suspension hearing is held at the Ministry.

Mr. Lister said 30 extended suspension hearings were held during 2004/05, involving 22 senior school students and eight middle school students. The majority were for fighting.

?On average, students received an extended out-of-school suspension for nine school days,? said Mr. Lister. ?The shortest suspension was for two school days and the longest for 24 school days.?

He added that one student received four extended suspensions, two students received two extended suspensions, three were referred to an alternative programme and three withdrew from school.

Mr. Lister told members that educational therapists were working in pre- and primary schools to try to tackle behaviour problems before they got out of control.

He said seven students on the Island experienced ?extreme acting out behaviours? in the last school year which needed one-on-one therapy.

?During the upcoming year, we will review the programme offered by the educational therapist to ensure that the services that they offer continue to meet the needs of students,? he said.

said more needed to be done to cut the amount of time teachers were spending disciplining children with behaviour problems.

Mr. Lister said the Ministry was working with teachers on improving classroom management to minimise disruption.

It has also introduced a programme called Living Values, which is aimed at developing the whole person, into nine primary schools and more will implement it this coming year.

?Living Values is based on the belief that young people learn values through their experience of total environment rather than through direct instruction,? he said.

?The result?

? A significant reduction of incidences of misbehaviour at those schools at which it is in place.?