A HEADteacher who has come under fire from parents for his strict discipline measures claims the school wouldn’t be improving without them.

Dr Rory Fox was brought in last September to turn around the troubled Basildon Academies, which opened in 2009 following £45million investment.

The Upper Academy, in Wickford Avenue, Pitsea, and Lower Academy, in Timberlog Close, Basildon, were formed from two of Basildon’s biggest secondary schools, Barstaple and Chalvedon.

Dr Fox started under a barrage of criticism from angry parents, who felt his tough stance on discipline was too extreme.

On his first day, 151 pupils were sent home for wearing the wrong trousers, having unsuitable school bags and trainers with velcro.

About 100 pupils were taken out of class and made to complete worksheets in a special “isolation” block each day, for not having the correct uniform, stationery or books.

Dr Fox, the former head of learning at Edmunds Hill Prison in Suffolk, recalled: “When I started, no child here would turn up for a detention. There were no rules in place – we even had children climbing out of windows. It was chaos.

“We had no choice but to put pupils into isolation, because there was no other way to control them. Detentions were non-existent and there had been no consistency.

“Isolation had to be during the day, so the pupils couldn’t refuse to go. We are a bit behind where I wanted us to be, but now we are getting somewhere with the behaviour.

“I will then start concentrating on improving the quality of the teaching.”

Improved discipline has seen the number of children entering isolation reduced to about three a day.

But parents remain unhappy about what they claim are “petty rules”, which have seen their children miss valuable lesson time while in isolation.

Their concerns culminated in a public meeting with Dr Fox at the weekend, when the headteacher pleaded with parents to “work with him” to improve the school.

Dr Fox said the academies got off to a bad start in 2009 because pupils and teachers didn’t have a proper timetable for six weeks, as the schools’ timetabler had been ill during the holidays.

He said: “The school was chaotic and we are still recovering from that.

“Teachers ended up leaving, and so did pupils. Children need routine, and since then the academies have had this negative persona associated with them.

“We are under no illusions. We know we are still an inadequate school, but we are working hard.

“To anyone who has criticised us, I say to them it takes 20 months to turn a school around.

“Look at our improving results, then judge us.”

In 2009, the school achieved 22 per cent A* to C grades at GCSE.

In 2010, this figure increased to 31 per cent and last year it rose to 33 per cent. Dr Fox hopes the school will break the 50 per cent barrier in 2013.