PARENTS, bullies and victims now come face-to-face as part of a school crackdown on bad behaviour.

Desi Mckeown, headteacher of The Deanes School, in Thundersley launched a pilot scheme to stamp out bullying by using a technique popular in prisons - and it has been a major success.

If “rare cases” of bullying are detected, all pupils involved are brought face-to-face to talk through the problem.

Parents of the children - both bullies and victims - are also asked to attend meetings at the school, in Daws Heath Road, to discuss acceptable behaviour.

Mr Mckeown said: “We use the restorative justice approach here, where we sit the two children down together and mentor them.

“We’re a small school so we don’t see a lot of bullying. But I’ve been here for two years, and since then any problems have certainly decreased.

“On occasions we will get the parents into the meeting to talk out the issues.

“It really works. Another reason we rarely have any problems here is because we have a blanket ban on the use of mobile phones.”

Restorative Justice, originally used in prisons, uses incidents of misbehaviour as an educative opportunity for repairing harm and fostering social responsibility.

Lauren Seager-Smith is the chief executive of Kidscape, an anti-bullying charity that helps children nationwide, including in south Essex.

She said: “The most important thing with bullying is that it stops. Schools often take a punitive approach, which is understandable, but it doesn’t stop the behaviour, often that behaviour is just taken elsewhere.

“The restorative approach is an effective way to support the child being bullied, and for the child carrying out the bullying to learn what affect it has on others.

“It’s not something that was used when I was at school, it’s a fairly new approach.”

Community figureheads welcomed the news.

John Hudson, councillor for Castle Point’s Cedar Hall ward, said: “I would say the children are luckier than most where someone has the patience to bring about the opportunity for education in these circumstances.

"I think it’s also a good way to educate children that there is such a thing as justice.

“It’s a positive approach to a problem, and it should be welcomed."