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Minister Jacqui Smith used ASCL's conference Pupils Behaving Badly on 8 February to announce 'new measures' for teachers to be able to discipline students outside the school gates.

ASCL members will know that in practice they already have many of these powers but, as John Dunford said: "Schools need as many tools as possible to help them deal with poor behaviour and for that reason we welcome the announcement."

Many schools are already finding innovative ways to tackle behaviour, and the conference gave more than 200 school leaders the chance to swap ideas.

The conference opened with Sir Alan Steer who led the working group on behaviour. He told delegates that the group's recommendations, including a national charter, were designed to support schools without being overly prescriptive or regulatory. He recommended that schools look at organisational issues - such as requiring seating plans - that could have an impact.

In the afternoon, David Moore HMI discussed some of the Ofsted research into the underlying causes of misbehaviour and the measures that have made a difference in schools. These include a whole-school behaviour policy which is clearly communicated and includes rewards as well as sanctions, systems that use data to monitor and inform planning, and robust training for staff.

ASCL is now exploring ways to share the conference outcomes more widely.