THE former headteacher of a top Manchester school has called for unruly pupils to be sent to borstal.

Stephen Patriarca, who stood down as head of William Hulme Grammar School last year, launched a blistering attack on the government for 'pandering' to the needs of disruptive pupils. He claimed the most difficult children could benefit from a 'short spell in what used to be a borstal'.

The Whalley Range school, founded in 1887, was one of the country's top private schools before it entering the state sector two years ago as a semi-independent academy.

Speaking at an education conference, Mr Patriarca said there were pupils on local authorities' 'hard to place' lists 'who are basically on the verge of being young criminals, they have been involved in acts of violence against teachers and pupils, theft or drug offences'.

"Some of these children do need tough love, they need something like a short spell in what used to be a borstal. If you keeping throwing money at them you're creating the very problem you're seeking to solve." He also slammed the 'Orwellian' Department for Children, Schools and Families, as a 'cumbersome hybrid that fulfils none of its roles very well'.

Mr Patriarca was appointed headteacher of William Hulme Grammar School in 2000.

The 55-year-old, who now works as an adviser to an international school in Austria, also warned schools which failed to take students from a mixture of different backgrounds risked turning into 'ghetto' areas, citing Oldham as an example.

He said: "If schools are purely neighbourhood schools then in areas where government has permitted ghettos to develop - such as Oldham - then schools become extensions of those ghettos."