Cocaine in classrooms

Teachers catch children as young as eight bringing drugs into schools

HUNDREDS of children have been caught with cannabis, heroin and crack cocaine at school.

Class-A drugs have been seized from classrooms across the country – with teachers warning that the findings may be just ‘the tip of the iceberg’.

Police forces reported more than 2,000 drug incidents over the past four years, with some cases involving pupils under 11. The youngest was just eight years old.

Cannabis was involved in 625 incidents, with some form of cocaine in 27 cases. Other drugs confiscated by police since 2011 included LSD, amphetamines and ecstasy.

There were two cases each of heroin possession in schools in the West Midlands, Surrey and Greater Manchester, plus another incident in Hertfordshire. The data, released under the Freedom of Information Act by 34 police forces across England and Wales, present a stark picture of the dangers children face in day-to-day life.

Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, said: ‘Any incident of drugs on school premises is worrying as it will often only be the tip of the iceberg of what young people are encountering on the streets.

‘Teachers and school leaders are always alert to the potential for young people being involved in drug or alcohol abuse.

‘Unfortunately, many of the pro- grammes on which schools could rely to assist them in supporting and educating young people in the perils of substance abuse have been cut.’

Four incidents involved children under 11, including an eight-yearold and a nine-year-old in Staffordshire primary schools who were caught with cannabis. A ten-yearold girl was caught at a Leicestershire primary with cannabis, and a ten year old was found with cannabis in Manchester.

Greater Manchester Police also revealed that a 14-year- old was caught with heroin worth £500, while a 16-year-old pupil was found with £330 worth of the drug. The region with the highest number of incidents and offences was Hampshire with 229. There were 144 incidents at schools in Avon and Somerset, and 138 in the West Midlands. South Wales police reported 92 cases. The largest number of incidents – 241 – involved 15 and 16year-olds, while 231 involved 11 to 14-year-olds.

However, the figures showed a slight year-on-year decrease, from a peak of 657 in 2011/12, to 611 and 560 the following years. There were 407 incidents to the end of 2014.

The vast majority occurred on school premises, although colleges and universities also reported drugrelated offences. The data showed a groundsman at a Humberside college was involved in a drug incident, while in Manchester a cleaner was found with £20 worth of cannabis at a primary school.

A 30-year-old parent brought 20 tranquillisers on to a Lancashire school premises, while drugs were also seized from two school employees in North Yorkshire, police said.

Camila Batmanghelidjh, founder of charity Kids Company, said last year that drug use was becoming ‘normalised’ for children whose parents abused substances at home. She said: ‘Unfortunately, in a lot of neighbourhoods, children see the drug trade as a completely legitimate way of making a living. It’s become so familiar and in a way it’s become so normalised because children are completely surrounded by adults who are using.’