Two pupils have been thrown out of a famous private school after being caught with cannabis.

The Oxford Mail can exclusively reveal that two teenagers at the £14,000-a-year St Edward's School, in Woodstock Road, Oxford, were expelled following an investigation by teachers.

The school, whose old boys include Sir Laurence Olivier and war hero Sir Douglas Bader, Wind in the Willows author Kenneth Grahame and Dambusters' leader Guy Gibson, has alerted police.

Eight pupils have now been expelled from St Edward's for possessing cannabis in the past five years.

Warden David Christie said: "Like all schools, we have a drugs education programme which clearly exposes the dangers of drugs. This term we have had two separate incidents involving cannabis. In accordance with the school's clear and well-understood policy, two boys have been removed from the school." They were both caught with the class-B drugs during the past three weeks, and appeared before Mr Christie who expelled them.

The parents of the pupils, a 17-year-old studying A-levels and a 15-year-old studying GCSEs, were summoned to the school to hear their sons' punishment.

Less than five pupils a year are excluded for drug abuse in Oxfordshire's local authority-run schools.

Monica Hanaway, senior county education development officer, said: "In terms of young people who are excluded or disciplined it is very, very small."

But the county figures do not include independent schools such as St Edward's, founded in 1863 in New Inn Hall Street, Oxford.

At St Edward's, the 560 boys and girls aged 13 and upwards either board full-time, at £4750 a term, or are day pupils at £3380 a term.

It is not the first time boys at St Edward's have been caught with drugs. In March 1993 six pupils were caught with a small amount of cannabis among their belongings and were expelled.

Five years ago the police were drafted in to teach staff how to combat the menace of drugs, by showing staff what to look for in teenagers' behaviour.

The drugs squad liaised with dozens of schools, Oxford University and health workers to try and crush drug abuse and avoid tragic deaths. Supt Wiz Bunce, of Oxford police, confirmed the police had been informedof the incident. did inform the police who work closely with schools, including St Edward's, on drug issues.

He said: "There won't be any police action on these occasions."

He added that when police officers investigate cases of school pupils being caught with cannabis they have to consider whether there is enough evidence to warrant criminal proceedings.

Supt Bunce said: "If the evidence isn't there we liaise closely with the school and the school decides on what action it should take."

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