A maths teacher claims he was driven out of a high-performing Oxford secondary school by arrogant and unruly pupils.

Ian Roblin, 41, said he suffered depression and considered leaving the profession after being physically and verbally abused by pupils at the Cherwell School.

He said the problems began at Marston Middle School in 2002 and continued when the school was absorbed into the secondary school as part of the reorganisation of the city's schools.

Mr Roblin who is taking up a new teaching post in Wales after Christmas, has accused the school of being too lenient on badly behaved pupils.

He claims that a 13-year-old girl pushed and bruised him at Marston Middle in June 2002, and a 14-year-old boy pushed him backwards at The Cherwell, and that neither child was punished.

Jill Judson, headteacher at the north Oxford school refused to discuss the details of Mr Roblin's case, saying they had both signed a confidentiality agreement on his departure from the school in March this year.

Oxfordshire County Council said it fully supported the school's strategies for dealing with inappropriate behaviour and said Mr Roblin left by "mutual agreement".

Mr Roblin, of Hadland Road, Abingdon, who said he was off work for six months in 2003 because of stress, claims pupils regularly swore at him and mocked his Welsh accent.

He said: "When I reported incidents of physical or verbal abuse, nothing was done. There were no boundaries.

"Once the pupils realised they could do what they liked without being excluded I was a target.

"Teaching is a difficult job. I was under a lot of stress at the time because my father was dying and I was going through a divorce.

"I was feeling really agitated, anxious and depressed, my marriage was on the rocks and I tried to commit suicide. I had no support from the school.

"There are some fantastic teachers at Cherwell but I have serious reservations about behaviour and it is putting teachers under a lot of stress.

"It's usually five or six arrogant and difficult kids ruining it for a class of 30."

The number of pupils permanently excluded in Oxfordshire is low in comparison to similar authorities, but increased from 61 to 72 in 2003-2004, largely as a result of the schools' reorganisation in the city.

Robert Martyn, Oxfordshire branch secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: "There is a significant increase in problem behaviour in schools nationally, not just locally.

"As a union we are trying to work with the education authority and Ian's case is one of the pieces of evidence that supports our view that something needs to be done.

"We have set up a special behaviour and inclusion working group which has met several times to look into what more can be done to help with these problems.

"The sort of thing that's happened to Ian and others in the county is a sign that it's proving more difficult for schools to deal with the problem.

"It's not just in schools. There's a general problem of lack of respect for authority spreading throughout society as a whole which has affected pupil attitudes in schools.

"It's a much bigger problem than can be solved in the short term."

Education spokesman John Mitchell said: "Mr Roblin had raised concerns about his classroom control when teaching at the Cherwell School. These concerns were looked into and time was spent helping him to improve his professional relationship with pupils. Oxfordshire County Council fully supports the strategies the Cherwell School has in place to manage and respond to inappropriate pupil behaviour."