A school where staff went on strike over physical and verbal abuse from pupils has introduced Saturday detentions. Headteacher at Caldicot School Alun Ebenezer explained the school has decided to bring in weekend detentions because other forms of discipline at the school to deal with bad behaviour hadn't been effective.

The school has also introduced creative ways of disciplining pupils including on some occasions asking their parents to attend class and sit next to them. Poorly behaved pupils have also been asked to carry out supervised litter picking.

This week six pupils are expected to attend school on Saturday for two hours as punishment for bad behaviour. Mr Ebenezer has made a name for himself as one of the toughest disciplinarians in British secondary education.

Since joining Caldicot School he has hit the headlines in September 2022 for taking 50 pupils out of class in one day for not wearing the correct uniform, and in June last year some parents claimed up to 200 girls at the school had also been told they couldn't attend class because their skirts were too short. Read more on that here. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here

Now in a new letter sent to parents Mr Ebenezer explained why he wouldn't be letting up on his latest crackdown. He quashed concerns Saturday detentions were not good for pupils' wellbeing.

He said: "This is the next step to have to come in on a Saturday morning. I'm told it's restrictive practice, that young people don't like them, and to use it sparingly but the vast majority don't get a detention and once young people start liking detention then let's get rid of it as it's not worth doing.

"Everybody I talk to wants young people to behave and that doesn't just happen, you have to put things in place but all we seem to get is a backlash. People talk about it not being good for wellbeing I would argue it's not good for anybody's wellbeing to have young people misbehaving and defiant."

Pupils can be given a detention if they collect bad behaviour marks and Mr Ebenezer said the Saturday detention is required where other sanctions, including being held after school, haven't worked. He said most of the school's 1,300 pupils are following its rules and just a handful of boys had to attend after-school detention on Tuesday, with six pupils required to attend the Saturday morning detention this week. The letter to parents said Saturday detentions will run once per half term and had been discussed in school assemblies.

In 2023, staff had staged strikes in the autumn term in response to physical and verbal abuse from pupils. Estyn, education inspectors, noted staff morale and pupil behaviour had improved at Caldicot School since the appointment of Mr Ebenezer in its latest report, which found the school needed "significant improvement".