Furious dad Andrew Widdowson is refusing to let his 11-year-old son Kieran into isolation rooms used by Ridgewood School, Scawsby, and will not allow him back to lessons until they are scrapped.

The school still wants Kieran to do his punishment in one of the rooms - which Mr Widdowson says are decorated entirely in black and resemble prison cells - before he returns.

Today Mayor Martin Winter gave the school his backing in the row after sending an education welfare expert to check proper procedures are being followed. Kieran got into trouble after an incident where another boy's tyres were let down on his bicycle. It was his idea but he did not perform the act, says his dad.

He was told to go to what the school describes as individual study rooms.

Mr Widdowson, from Cusworth, aged 30, said: "A teacher rang and told me about the punishment and I went into the school to see for myself what this isolation room was.

"I couldn't believe it. It was like something out of Guantanamo Bay.

"The room is painted black. The walls, the partitions, the window blinds - everything was black. The partitions down one side created four cells where school kids are expected to sit at a desk all day.

"Kieran is out of lessons until either the school backs down or someone tells them to back down. I'm not going to back down on this. I'm not some sort of liberal parent, and Kieran knows I'm angry about what happened. But I want to get Kieran back into school and to get rid of that room."

Kieran is currently being taught by a relative who is a qualified teacher.

Mr Widdowson has also called MP Jeff Ennis to complain about the punishment regime. But the school has defended the Ofsted-approved rooms, saying they are well-lit with a window providing adequate external light and ventilation, plus spot lighting.

A statement said: "The facility has been in use for over four years and accommodates a handful of pupils each week overwhelmingly for no more than one day and some for less than this. The facility is used at a relatively minor level of the behaviour policy to give pupils a chance to reflect on their behaviour and strengthen their desire to meet expectations in future.

"It overwhelmingly achieves this in terms of pupils not returning for repeated isolations. Pupils are supplied with work from current lessons and are free to ask questions of the supervising member of staff as they would in lessons.

"At no time has Kieran been refused access to school or excluded. Mr Widdowson himself, as part of his continuing period of objection, signed him out of school and took him away. The school shares the aim of getting Kieran back into education at Ridgewood promptly and straightforwardly.

He is welcome to return at any time, do his day in isolation in line with the behaviour policy for all pupils, and return to his full timetable on that basis."

Mayor Martin Winter said: "At face value the isolation room may seem excessive but it does form an integral part of a behaviour policy that has seen Ridgewood achieve a very low rate of student exclusions for bad behaviour whilst, at the same time, delivering very high attainment levels for pupils at GCSE level in Doncaster including the highest attainment rate of pupils achieving five A* to C grades last year.

"It is important to understand this policy was operational as part of a full Ofsted Inspection of the school in 2006 and approved as a positive feature of the school's overall success. We are satisfied all proper procedures are being followed."

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