A headteacher today vowed to take a hard line on drugs after two pupils were found in possession of cannabis at school.

The two 15-year-olds and a third pupil from the same year believed to have supplied the boys with the drug, have all now been expelled from Chalvedon School, Pitsea.

A teacher is said to have found the two boys in a toilet with a very small amount of cannabis and a plastic bottle. However, it is not thought that any drugs were smoked or sold on school premises.

Police were called and the boys involved given an informal warning. Since then Alan Roach, the school's headteacher, has carried out intense interviews with more than 50 pupils to try and find out how the drugs came to be in the school.

This, he said, had given him a valuable insight into the drugs situation in Pitsea.

He said: "We are now aware of the extent of drug related activity outside the school.

"However, the problems that seem to be engulfing our local community are not stepping across the threshold of the school. We have an ethos where drug related activity is absolutely taboo.

"This is the first time in my 12 years as headteacher here that we have found three students involved with drugs."

Parents were told about the expulsions in a letter.

Mr Roach added that the interviews with pupils had revealed how easy it is for them to get their hands on soft drugs outside of the school. He had described the availability as "worrying".

He said: "My worry was that it was rife in the school but that isn't the case.

"Children had spoken of buying a quantity of cannabis for £1. If there is a problem here then we are determined to confront it."

One parent, who has children at the school and does not want to be named, said: "The expulsions send out a very strong message to the other pupils and that's what is needed.

"There's a drug problem across the whole of Basildon, but there is in any decent-sized town. I'm not worried about drugs at the school because of the action that has been taken over this."

An initiative was set up between the school and police several months ago to stop children leaving the school at lunchtime.

Mr Roach said this would help protect children from the attention of drug dealers.

Community liaison officer, Di Capon, of Pitsea Police, said: "There are drugs everywhere, even in small villages. Pitsea is no different or worse than any other place."

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