CALLS for the reintroduction of corporal punishment at a Worcestershire school are bound to have pleased disciplinarians.

The River School in Claines, near Worcester, is challenging Human Rights legislation to be allowed to legally smack children.

It claims the laws, which saw smacking banned 16 years ago, are in breach of their own human rights as Christians.

Campaigners claim that the Bible backs the right to smack pupils for disciplinary purposes and the ban means they cannot practice their religion according to their beliefs.

Smacking has been the brunt of extensive campaigns over the past few years, with opinion divided. If the school is successful in its high court bid next month, it could mean that other schools could implement corporal punishment if it is in line with parents' wishes.

Whether that would be limited to a smack in place of being sent out of the room, or a flogging for being caught smoking behind the bikesheds is not clear.

What is known is that the move is being opposed by child cruelty campaigner, the NSPCC.

The charity calls corporal punishment Dickensian, saying it reeks of a strict and rigid Victorian way of living.

If we were to allow smacking back into the classroom, children also be expected to write on slates, separate the boys from girls and eat tapioca at lunch?

Parents might well call for discipline in this form in schools because they believe that is the right way to treat children.

Why should children be subjected to violence at such a young age? We already live in a violent society where crime is rising, domestic violence is on the up and more child cruelty is being investigated.

Do we really need to enforce the idea that violence in a disciplinary sense is acceptable?

The River School might argue that it would deter youngsters from wrongdoing, but how about imposing something that would hurt them longer - such as missing school trips, being made to run an extra lap of the school field in games or even being separated from their friends?

There are lots of alternatives to corporal punishment in schools.

Some parents might claim they don't work. Indeed, there are always stories of tearaway teenagers on estates and other instances of youth crime.

Punishing them with a smack is not the answer, despite what some people may say.

If children are made to pay for their wrongdoings with their time and effort then, perhaps, they will be less likely to reoffend.