'NO BIG DEAL' AS PUPILS ARE FOUND WITH CANNABIS
By John O'leary, Education Editor

THE headmaster of an independent school is said to have dismissed as "no
big deal" the discovery of four boys with cannabis, saying that half of all
16-year-olds smoke the drug.

Peter Smith, headmaster of Bradfield College, near Reading, said that the
boys, aged 16 and 17, had not been expelled, but all had left the school
after their parents were called in to discuss the incident.

Mr Smith, who was not available for comment yesterday, told a local
newspaper that the school, where boarding fees are more than pounds 14,000
a year, had tried to deal with the matter in a "quiet, unsensational way".
He is quoted as saying: "It's no big deal, quite frankly; 50 per cent of
16-year-olds use cannabis."

Bradfield, which has 470 boys and 110 girls, is famous for its festival of
open-air Greek theatre. Among its old boys are Lord Owen and Richard Adams,
the author. Mr Smith said that three boys were found in possession of small
quantities of cannabis in May. The fourth had been caught in an unrelated
incident in April. "The parents were called in and they decided to remove
their children from the school," he said. Two of the boys stayed to
complete their GCSE examinations.

The police were informed but decided to take no action. Colin Hume, a
spokesman for Newbury police, said: "Generally in circumstances such as
these, we leave the school to deal with the matter."

In a statement issued by the school yesterday, Mr Smith said that the
school had clear disciplinary and pastoral policies. "There is good
evidence that the use of illegal substances by young people undermines both
academic performance and extra-curricular motivation." A member of staff
said that Mr Smith had been misquoted by the newspaper, but was unable to
give his actual comments.

The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, which includes Bradfield
among its members, recommends a flexible response to drug offences. A
minority operate a "zero tolerance" policy of expelling all users. There
have been recent expulsions at Eton, Harrow, Charterhouse, Lancing,
Millfield, Wellington and Clifton. An HMC survey of more than 2,000 pupils
this year found that almost half of the 16-year-olds had experimented with
illegal drugs, and 12 per cent were regular users.

An increasing number of independent schools suspend pupils for possession
of soft drugs, readmitting on condition that they submit to random testing.
Most still expel dealers and repeat offenders.