PUPILS SENT HOME IN SHAME AFTER CANNABIS AND ALCOHOL DISCOVERIES

SIX pupils, some as young as 14, were sent home from a school retreat
in the Lake District after being caught with cannabis and alcohol.

Teachers from Our Ladys School, Royton, found the drugs and bottles of
spirits in the bags of Year 10 pupils just hours after they arrived for the
week-long residential retreat.

The guilty pupils parents were immediately contacted and asked to collect
their children from the away-day centre at Castlerigg, which is near Keswick
in the Lake District.

However, the other 44 pupils who had not broken the school and retreat
centre rules were allowed to stay on.

The school trip, from January 14 to 18, was one of a number of holidays and
breaks organised for pupils by the school throughout the year. The teenagers
are given the opportunity to take part in the breaks providing they sign a
contract promising to stick to the rules set out.

All 50 pupils had their bags searched before leaving the Catholic school on
the Monday morning, but nothing was found in their luggage. However, as the
youngsters, aged 14 and 15, settled in for the night at the Cumbrian centre,
school staff carried out another search7 it was then that the drugs and
bottles of alcohol were discovered.

According to one parent, some of group had cannabis cakes with them as well
as other forms of the drug and alcoholic spirits.

Head teacher Mr Brendan McGowan said the youngsters must have bought
the banned items after arriving at their destination when they were allowed
to go shopping.

He confirmed that six pupils, three boys and three girls, were sent back
from the retreat on the first night of the five-day stay.

Mr McGowan added: The issue is now resolved. It has been through the
governors and we had full parental support. We have lots of these trips
throughout the year and we will continue to have them.

The youngsters were sent home from the centre because they broke the
contract which is agreed before they go on a school trip. It is unequivocal
and stands for all trips, whether it be a retreat in the Lake District or a
ski trip in Europe.

The rest of the trip was a great success and the people at the centre
wrote a letter congratulating the remaining pupils.