PUPILS are on their best behaviour in Dorset and are less likely to be expelled than in almost any other English school area, a report said today.

Dorset County Council was among the top 10 school authority areas in the country out of more than 150 nationally with barely a score of pupils expelled during 2005-2006.

This represented a tiny 0.04 per cent of the authority's school population or only a third of the average for England of 0.12 per cent for 9,170 expulsions nationally.

Dorset also did well with just under 2,000 pupils given fixed period exclusions from their school, the stay-away absences representing 6.48 per cent of the Dorset County Council school population.

This put Dorset in the top 20 of school authority areas nationally with figures well below the national average of 10.4 per cent.

The figures from the Department of Education covered poor pupil behaviour ranging from threatening their teachers to attacking other pupils or disrupting lessons with the worst offenders being 12, 13 and 14-year-olds.

Schools Minister Jim Knight - who is also the MP for South Dorset - said he warmly congratulated Dorset schools on their figures.

He added: "They continue to do a great job not just in academic results but also in behaviour.

"This shows what a great partnership there is between staff and parents to create the right atmosphere of respect which is so essential to good learning."

He added that there had been a rise in fixed period exclusions nationally and said: "This reflects the tough approach schools are taking to address bad behaviour.

"They are using the short, sharp shock of a suspension to nip problem behaviour in the bud and this is helping to stop this escalating to the point where permanent exclusion becomes necessary."

Weymouth's Budmouth Technology College principal David Akers said: "The Chesil Partnership of schools - which has 26 schools in it including ourselves - has a fantastic programme of mutual support for students who are facing challenging times.

"We have a programme called Managed Moves to help students to find the school with the environment best suited to them.

"Most importantly, the Compass Centre in Weymouth runs a series of support packages to help students cope with challenges in their lives."