A prestigious school where two boys were expelled for allegedly selling Drugs has rejected a study which says too many pupils are excluded for substance misuse.

The report from the charity Standing Conference on Drug Abuse (SCODA) claims schools act too hastily where drugs are concerned and a more measured approached should be taken.

But Bingley Grammar School headteacher, John Patterson, said that could be tantamount to accepting a drug culture and he backed a zero tolerence approach for his school.

The school recently revealed that two boys, aged 15 and 16, where expelled last term after allegations they sold cannabis on school premises. Two other boys who admitted buying the drug were excluded for four weeks.

"If you accept drugs in school without somebody being excluded, you are saying this is an endemic problem," said Mr Patterson.

SCODA has called for a graduated response to pupils caught with drugs ranging from warnings, to counselling, to 'behaviour contracts' to the final sanction of exclusion.

They say 20,000 children are thrown out of school each year whose potential problems could be dealt with better in the school system.

According to Bradford Council's figures in 1996/7, there were 190 permanent exclusions from the district's schools of which seven were drug related. The following year there were 159 total exclusions and again seven were drug related.

Ian Murch, of Bradford's National Union of Teachers, backed the Bingley Grammar stance. "If a child had to be found with drugs five or six times before they were excluded that would be going much too far."

However, Mr Murch did call for schools to treat each case on its merits rather than having a blanket policy.

Scoda's survey and guidance was due to be launched today at the Secondary Heads Association conference in Brighton, which was also due to be addressed by the Government's Anti-Drugs Co-ordinator, Keith Hellawell.

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