No pupils have been suspended this week

Lesley Lawson sent home 25 children in a week from Fort Hill Community School in Basingstoke, Hampshire.

Pupils who refuse to do their homework are put in a separate room and if they continue to miss assignments are sent home for two days.

Mrs Lawson said those not bothering to hand in work were "missing out".

'Serious sanction'

During the first week of the regime, introduced last month, 360 homework assignments were not handed in and 25 pupils were suspended.

In the second week only six children were sent home. None have been so far this week.

Mrs Lawson told BBC News: "We have a system of supporting children who are struggling with homework, but there were still a significant number of children refusing to complete theirs.

It might seem draconian, but it seems to be working Lesley Lawson, head teacher

"Suspension is a serious sanction. We don't send children home willy-nilly.

"But they have to have a good reason for not doing homework."

She added: "If pupils don't do homework, their classroom studies suffer.

"It also disrupts teachers, who have to spend the first 10 minutes of a lesson dealing with disciplining them.

"Most parents have been supportive of the scheme. We have to get them on our side, telling the children to do the homework.

"It might seem draconian to suspend pupils, but it seems to be working so far."

Research suggests that regular homework has the same benefit as an extra year's schooling.

Mrs Lawson is hoping to continue the pilot scheme at the 600-pupil school next term.