Parents face £100 fine if banned pupils are found on the streets

Under laws coming into force this month, they could be issued with a penalty notice if they fail to keep their children indoors.

And failure to pay could result in the imposition of a £1,000 fine or a community sentence.

The move follows evidence that youngsters who are allowed to roam the streets are more likely to drift into crime.

Heads will also be given new powers to apply for parenting orders, which can lead to £1,000 fines on those who fail to control young louts.

Fines for parents of excluded children - part of last year's Education and Inspections Act but only now coming into force - could potentially affect thousands.

Secondary schools expelled pupils 7,990 times last year and issued 343,840 suspensions.

Primaries expelled 970 and suspended about 40,000.

Now police, some local authority staff and heads will be able to impose penalty notices on parents if children are caught 'in a public place' during the first five days of an exclusion.

The fine would be £50 if paid within 28 days, then rise to £100.

Failure to pay after 42 days could result in prosecution, potentially resulting in a £1,000 fine or community sentence.

The move is meant to force parents to ensure their children are kept under supervision.

A report commissioned by ministers warned that excluded youngsters are too often left to roam the streets, potentially drifting into crime.

The penalties apply only for the first five days of a suspension because after that schools will be required to ensure that the pupil has alternative tuition until the sanction expires.

This has led some schools to complain they could find it too expensive to bar many of the most disruptive pupils.

But ministers say they have set aside enough extra cash to help them fund alternative provision. Further measures aimed at increasing parental responsibility will enable parenting orders to be issued before pupils become so unruly they are suspended or expelled.

They can now be used in cases where a child has 'seriously mis-behaved' but not done enough to warrant exclusion.

Previously, local council youth teams had to apply for the orders but now heads will be able to use them to fight yobbish behaviour.

The orders compel mothers and fathers to attend parenting classes and promise to carry out specific duties, such as ensuring children turn up on time.

But Mr Balls's backing for separate £7 million-a-year 'respect' lessons has been dealt a blow by research showing they can provoke disruptive pupils into stepping up their bad behaviour.

The Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning programme - where children are given lessons in managing their feelings and relating to others - has been on trial in 60 per cent of primary schools and is now being extended to secondaries.

A study by academics at London's Institute of Education, which covered 3,000 pupils, said most head teachers did not agree that fixed term or permanent exclusions had decreased.

But it added that 90 per cent of teachers felt the programme has been at least relatively successful and classrooms and playgrounds were calmer.

A single city pays out almost £200,000 in compensation to school children

Pupils in one city were paid more than £190,000 in compensation last year, it emerged yesterday.

The awards included 14 for injuries in the playground or classroom, including £11,786 for a pupil who trapped a finger in a gate.

By far the biggest pay-out by Leeds City Council was £150,400 for a claim explained as 'dyslexia'. It is believed the cash was awarded after the council was accused of a 'failure to educate' a child with the learning disability.

Eight children were awarded more than £2,000, including a further trapped finger injury - this time involving a door - at £3,200. A youngster who tripped in the playground and broke an arm was given £3,400 and one who 'slipped' won £3,380. The total compensation of £191,397 could have paid for ten new teachers.

Nationally, the compensation bill for injuries sustained on school premises reached £2 million.

It included £5,700 from Leicestershire County Council for a boy who injured himself swinging on a gate of a primary school - even though he had broken into the school.