State schools using random drug tests

STATE schools are starting to use drug tests for pupils, according to a senior Government adviser.

The move, which has been condemned by head teachers, marks a profound shift in school drugs policies.

Head teacher Peter Walker, a member of the Home Office advisory council for misuse of drugs, said he knew of a "handful" of state schools that used tests. One had decided to introduce random testing.

Increasing numbers of independent schools, including Eton, St Paul's, Rugby and Harrow, already test pupils they suspect may have been taking drugs, but state schools have shied away from the idea until now.

Mr Walker, who helped draw up nationwide recommendations on drugs issued by the National Association of Head Teachers last year, said he knew of around five state schools that had introduced testing, although he declined to identify them.

He said: "There are a small number of state schools that are involved in drug testing. I know of a very small number which involve themselves in random drug testing.

"Personally, I would not go anywhere near it. I have never even considered it."

He warned that testing would have profound implications for schools' standing in the community and with their pupils. He said: "I would ask schools to think extremely carefully ... We have to ask if we are putting the right messages out."

Drugs are already widespread in schools, with half of all children thought to have experimented with drugs by the age of 15. Local authority leaders warn that some schools have problems with hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin. Primary schools have also reported drug use among pupils.

Head teachers, however, expressed deep concerns about testing. Chris Thatcher, Vice President of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: ''We would all like to wave a magic wand and remove drug problems, but this is a knee-jerk reaction. Schools that carried out random drug tests could appear heavy-handed and authoritarian.''

The NASUWT, a teachers' union, rejects testing, but supports tough action on drugs. General secretary Nigel de Gruchy said: "We would support any school management team which took a hard line on drugs. Schools are expected to uphold the law and we would be concerned if a school management team took a soft line on drugs."

Government advice to schools does not tackle the question of drug testing. Governors must decide their own individual policies for dealing with the problem.

Schools are expected to call in the police, but heads are warned only to consider expulsion as "a final sanction when all other reasonable steps have been taken".

Drug testing is already widespread in independent schools, where there have been a series of high-profile drugs-related expulsions in recent weeks.

Earlier this month, Eton threw out two boys, and St Paul's school in Barnes, west London, expelled three teenage boys. Both schools are among the growing number in the independent sector to have accepted drug testing.

St Paul's High Master, Stephen Baldock, said his school's policy was clear: using cannabis was illegal and anyone found with drugs on the premises would be expelled.

Mr Baldock said: "If a boy is in possession of cannabis on the school premises he has broken the law of the school. We have agreement that we could use drug testing if there were good reasons for it, but we do not do random testing; we would say it was a positive support for a boy who has given assurances that he was not involved in drugs."

Vivian Anthony, secretary of the Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference, which represents public school heads, said many schools had adopted drug testing to back up the "two strikes and you're out" rule, which was increasingly replacing automatic expulsion for school drug users.