A TEACHER has called for police sniffer dogs to visit Commonweal School to catch out drug-taking pupils who are walking into class high and hiding drugs in their underwear.

The issue came to light following a number of undercover police patrols in the Goddard Avenue area earlier this month following complaints from residents about students smoking drugs before and after school.

In the last year, only one pupil has been permanently excluded for being caught with drugs in the school grounds – a picture that, one teacher believes, only scratches the surface of drug activity at the school.

“It is not just happening on the school grounds by the tennis courts but also before they are coming into the school and when they are leaving as well,” the teacher said.

“What seems to be happening is that the pupils tend to put the drugs down their underwear because they know we can’t obviously search there and the police can only search them if they are arrested.

“It is obvious they are high in lessons. They will come in and in some cases they are taking more than just cannabis because they are not shy to talk about it.

"They will say ‘I’m on ketamine’ because they know there are no consequences if we can’t find any drugs on them. They come in with red eyes and they are staring into space most of the time and so to get them to do any work is hard.

"It is the concern for their safety which we are worried about.

“The brazenness of it is what surprises me and I think the students think that they can do it because they don’t think anything will happen.”

During undercover police patrols earlier this month, a group of pupils were stopped but on searching their bags, no drugs were found. The teacher, who wishes to remain anonymous, added that many of their colleagues feel helpless in cracking down on the behaviour because proving illegal activity is harder than people might think.

“The pupils know how to play the system and know exactly what to say as well as knowing what the teachers can and cannot do,” they said.

“Teaching is becoming more about social work now and as teachers, you become concerned that the student might be dealing and not realise the consequences if they don’t get money for it.

“It doesn’t seem enough to say that you believe they are on drugs because it is a matter of proving it. If their bag has been searched and nothing is found then it is really difficult.

“I know a lot of staff would like for police dogs to be brought in without the students knowing. If there is a zero tolerance approach, maybe it would kick it out.

“I want to see the police come into the school rather than hanging around outside because then it will show there will be consequences to this sort of behaviour.

“Commonweal isn’t the school it used to be.”

“It has the potential to be a brilliant school but it needs strong leadership who will be proactive in doing something like listening to the teachers and deal with the students who we raise concerns about.”

According to associate headteacher Bob Linnegar, if a member of staff reports a pupil over concerns of drugs or alcohol, a search of their bag is immediately carried out. But, if no drugs are found, not much action can be taken in terms of punishment. He said that work with police officers is still ongoing and the school wants residents to get in touch about problem students so that the necessary action can be taken.

“I wouldn’t say it has got progressively worse but the reason for the rise is that they congregate in that one area,” he said.

“Drugs are an issue for all schools and that is why we spend so much work in PHSE looking at the effects of drugs and trying to educate them on making healthy choices. It is just a phenomenon in society and I think it is more prevalent and mainstream.

“Action is taken when we get parents involved but unless Unless we find drugs on the students besides the physical manifestation, there is not enough proof to exclude students without having something on them and that is why we want to educate them.

"Excluding kids won’t solve the drug problem.

"We try to show the consequences on health and mental wellbeing and how it could lead to getting involved in criminal activities which will affect their life forever.”

Mr Linnegar added the police have already been into the school to hold talks with pupils but as of yet no police dogs have entered the school grounds for a search.