Lords appeal on smacking

TEACHERS and parents at independent private Christian schools were today taking their case to the House of Lords for the right of staff to smack pupils with parental consent.

The group, headed by the Christian Fellowship School in Liverpool, is appealing against rulings by the High Court and Court of Appeal that the law against corporal punishment is not a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Government insists corporal punishment is illegal under the 1996 Education Act.