THIS is the school where teachers are not allowed to shout at the pupils.

Bournemouth’s Bishop of Winchester school wants staff to build relationships instead.

If a supply teacher really loses their temper, they are sent home before the day is even out.

Shouting is seen as a “cop out” and a sign that lessons have not been well planned.

The rule is one part of the school’s transformation from its days as the notorious Summerbee Comprehensive.

Headteacher Paul McKeown took over in 2006 and said: “When I arrived there were a lot of staff who had been here for many years.

“They had been let down by the system and developed an ‘us and them’ siege mentality with the students.

“The teachers asserted a lot of control through shouting and being physically bigger than students.”

He believes discipline should not be about confrontations or winners and losers.

The aim is to get pupils to see everything is being done for their benefit.

The school’s full time Reverend, Jenny Nightingale, said if pupils behave badly, she first asks them by name to stop.

“It’s about being quiet and waiting,” she said. “I say ‘we can come back at the end of the day and do this lesson’.”

If pupils still won’t behave they are removed from the lesson, and possibly internally excluded.

“There isn’t the need to shout,” said Reverend Jenny. “They are just taken out of the situation.”

She described “negotiating” with some boys who had been excluded – they were asked how they had made the teacher feel, and also what their own complaints were.

Wouldn’t ‘negotiation’ sound strange to some people?

“The older generation will say they need discipline - and they do,” said Reverend Jenny. “But there are ways of disciplining.

“As a society we are changing from hitting our children to negotiation, using a sort of ‘naughty step’, and saying ‘I will take such and such off you’.”

The school is actually very keen on rules. Mr McKeown excluded 20 pupils almost as soon as he arrived.

“I wouldn’t square not shouting with not being strict,” he said. “I can be an absolute stickler for the rules.

“It’s about tough love and the children knowing you are doing it to help them.”

Mr McKeown said he has only broken this rule once – when he shouted at a member of staff who shouted at a pupil.

Around 70 per cent of the teaching staff are newcomers and there were battles with some of the old guard.

Mr McKeown said: “One member of staff said ‘I have got 30 years’ experience and it won’t work’.

“I said ‘have you got 30 years’ experience, or one year’s experience repeated 30 times?’ “He is no longer here.”

He expects staff to show a passion for their subject which will engage students.

In return the teachers should get back-up when they enforce the rules, and training so they can develop.

Jamie Hall, a history teacher, said of the policy: “It suits me. I would rather build relationships and get the pupils to do things because they want to do them, “At my last school it was almost like you weren’t a real teacher unless you shouted.”

Parents dropping off their children seemed in favour.

One said: “You might need to shout in certain circumstances – for example if something dangerous is happening on a sports field. The problem is when it’s done as a bullying technique.”