TOLERANCE-PLEA HEAD EXPELS FOUR PUPILS

SCHOOL ACTS AFTER CLAIM THAT BOYS, 14, were used as middle-men

THE headteacher of a top private school has expelled four pupils for
alleged drug dealing - just 24 hours after he publicly called for more
tolerance on the issue.

Six other pupils have been suspended from Stewart's Melville College, in
Edinburgh, after being accused of using cannabis.

The ten, all boys of 14, have been questioned by police who were called in
by the school management. Patrick Tobin, the school's principal, admitted
that the incident was an embarrassment, coming as it did a day after he
warned against a "zero tolerance" approach to drugs at private schools.

As the vice-chairman of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference
(HMC), he had said that schools must not automatically expel pupils but
should instead concentrate on educating them on the dangers of drugs. That
call came after a survey discovered that almost half of the pupils in
private schools had used drugs.

Mr Tobin said the crucial difference in the new case at 790-pupil Stewart's
Melville was that he had received information from a concerned parent that
the four unnamed expelled boys were acting as middle-men to strike deals
with other pupils on behalf of outside drug dealers. He stressed that no
drugs were brought into school or used on its premises.

All ten boys were suspended last week and an investigation by school
authorities led to the expulsion of four on Monday. The other six are
expected to be allowed to return to school if they agree to random drug
tests in future and if their parents promise to do all they can to prevent
future problems.

Mr Tobin said: "This is most unwelcome as the vast majority of our pupils
are entirely worthy of our trust, support and confidence. These are the
first four boys to be expelled here for six or seven years."

He called on the Government to give the police the resources to fund an
onslaught on drugs which would include attempts to track both drugs barons
and the smaller dealers who made their trade possible.

A Lothian and Borders Police spokeswoman said that officers visited
Stewart's Melville earlier this week at the request of the school
management. She added: "We took statements from the children involved and
our inquiries are continuing."

In 1997 Stewart's Melville, along with its associated all-girls school,
Mary Erskine's, became the first Scottish school to introduce voluntary
drug-testing of pupils who were suspected of drug abuse.

The HMC made its call for drugs tolerance on Wednesday after researchers
found that 43 per cent of sixth-year pupils had experimented with drugs and
that 12 per cent were regular users, usually of cannabis but occasionally
of harder drugs.

Half of 14-year-olds said they had been offered drugs, 30 per cent had
accepted and 10 per cent used drugs regularly.

Last June, The Scotsman revealed that Glasgow University academics had
discovered that pupils in fee-paying schools were just as likely to fall
into drug abuse as children from inner-city housing schemes.

The study of three Tayside private schools, including two all-girls
schools, reported that half of all fifth-year pupils had tried an illegal
drug, usually cannabis. Others drugs included heroin, temazepam, ecstasy,
cocaine, amphetamines, temgesic and magic mushrooms.

Judith Sischy, a director of the Scottish Council of Independent Schools,
said: "The events of this week again show the need for drugs education in
schools which targets not just pupils but also the parents and staff." She
praised police for their work in schools in raising awareness of drug risks.

Last June, six senior Gordonstoun pupils were suspended but not expelled
after being caught smoking cannabis on school grounds. Three pupils were
voluntarily removed by their parents from George Watson's College, in
Edinburgh, last September after they were caught with the drug.

In November, Estelle Morris, the education minister for England and Wales,
said that schools should not expel all pupils in drug cases. Helen Liddell,
the Scottish education minister, took a harder stance and said that pupils
should be excluded if they brought drugs into school.