SCHOOLS are being encouraged by Monmouthshire County Council to recognise why children might misbehave in class.

Behaviour in Mommouthshire schools has hit the headlines with Caldicot headteacher Alun Ebenezer having called for tougher discipline in Wales and telling the BBC he believes there is a culture of “hiding behind words like ‘wellbeing'” and “mollycoddling” children.

Teachers, in autumn 2023, had staged a series of strikes at Caldicot over verbal and physical abuse from pupils at the secondary school but since Mr Ebenezer was appointed last summer inspection body Estyn said behaviour and staff morale has improved.

His comments to the BBC, after he introduced Saturday morning detentions this month, have pushed the school back into the headlines and TV debates, having said: “I think at the moment we are indulging and we are hiding behind words like wellbeing and safe spaces and it’s making things unsafe and is damaging people’s wellbeing.”

He also defended a policy that pupils must be referred to the wellbeing area by staff and said: “We understand that there are some pupils in this school who need proper wellbeing help.

“But let those young people get the help they need, not be at the back of the queue from a hundred people who don’t want to be in physics.”

Members of Monmouthshire County Council’s people scrutiny committee were updated on its approach to behaviour by head of inclusion Dr Morwenna Wagstaff.

She told councillors: “We are trying to get schools and settings to recognise, and they are getting pretty good at this and have got some really good practice, to look at what the children are presenting. The behaviour is a communication very often of something that is unmet.

“Very often we have children who are presenting with behaviours of real challenge and concern, are at risk of exclusion, and when we take the time to unpick that it turns out they are struggling to read or something has happened that we aren’t aware of and that need has not been met.”

Dr Wagstaff said she was “really excited” Monmouthshire runs an inclusion service, that also includes its provision for children with additional learning needs, rather than a separate additional needs service “and other bits.”

Conservative councillor Jane Lucas said she wanted to thank the inclusion service on behalf of youngsters as she said such support wasn’t available when she was in school.

The Osbaston member said: “I’m statemented as severe dyslexic but I wasn’t at school, I didn’t get the opportunity to be statemented or recognised I just got shoved out so it’s nice to hear what you guys are saying and the system has changed.”

Cllr Lucas said she used “defensive actions” which she said she still uses and said she recognises some people may think she is over confident: “People often mistake it as an attitude and it’s not. It is purely disguising what happened to me. I can truly say thank you on behalf of young people.”