THREE BOYS EXPELLED BY FETTES OVER DRUGS

THREE pupils have been expelled from Fettes College in Edinburgh for taking
drugs.

The sixth-form boys were asked to leave the independent school, where Tony
Blair was a pupil, after two separate incidents in the same week.

A spokesman for the school confirmed that two boys were found with cannabis
at a sixth-form party last Saturday and that another, aged 17, had failed a
drugs test after a business studies trip to Belgium.

Michael Spens, the headmaster, said that school regulations on the issue of
drug misuse were widely understood. "These pupils have been very foolish
and they have been punished. For them this is a personal tragedy," he said.

"The school line is very clear. . . If a pupil is found with drugs they can
be told to leave the school and if there is any question of doubt they are
asked to take a drugs test."

Mr Spens insisted that drug-taking at the school, which costs up to
UKP17,000 a year for full boarding pupils, was not a serious problem.

A spokesman for the school denied that Fettes would now follow the example
of Edinburgh Academy by introducing random drugs tests. The academy last
week asked the parents of a number of pupils aged 14 who had admitted
taking cannabis to pay UKP50 for future drug tests.