Headteachers in Bradford have backed moves to record suspected drug abuse among pupils expelled from school for bad behaviour.

The proposal is being included in a Bradford Council report which builds on the authority's existing drugs education action plan.

Among major concerns in the report is the lack of information that comes from schools to highlight the extent of drug abuse among the district's children.

Neil Donkin, head at Eccleshill Upper School, said he had had occasion to suspect children of drug abuse because their behaviour was not normal.

But if he had to resort to excluding them from school, there was nothing on the records to inform the education authority that the child was suspected of taking drugs.

The Council is now considering a change to the records so that headteachers can indicate their suspicions.

Mr Donkin said: "I certainly think there is clearly more use of drugs by pupils of school age. It would be useful for the authority to collate information to find out how widespread the problem is."

A report will go to a joint meeting of the Council's youth services committee and the schools sub-committee on Monday to endorse the new strategy.

The report said: "Exclusions may be attributed to violent behaviour rather than the drug-related incident that may have contributed."

John Hull, head of Buttershaw Upper School, which has been recognised for raising the awareness of drugs among pupils, also supported the move.

"Schools have to acknowledge there are problems. We have to talk about these problems and if that involves recording it then I would in favour of that."

The report also recommends that an approach is adopted to establish intervention strategies for the benefit of young people involving a cross collaboration between youth and community workers, school staff, school nurses and street agencies.

The joint committee is also expected to make a further commitment to support the on-going drug prevention work within the youth and community service, and to continue its support for drug education projects in schools.

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