Public schools told to face up to drug problem
Too many public schools are complacent towards cannabis use
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Thursday, 04, Oct 2007 10:15
Headteachers of the UK's most expensive schools have been warned that even the most privileged of pupils can still fall victim to the lure of illegal drugs.
Elizabeth Burton-Phillips, head of Godstowe preparatory school in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, said the public school system was overly complacent towards the problem.
Speaking at the annual Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference in Bournemouth, Ms Burton-Phillips - herself the bereaved mother of a son who became addicted to cannabis while attending a fee-paying school - claimed that teachers and parents believe their children are protected from the drugs trade.
"Could it be that one of the significant problems that middle-class youth face in our independent schools is denial that your school could ever have any drug problem or the foolish belief that cannabis is not that serious?" she asked.
"As one middle-class parent remarked to me recently, 'We are lucky, we don't have a problem with drugs in our schools in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Eton, because the Queen lives here. This is why we pay our fees.'"
Both of Ms Burton-Phillips' twin sons experimented with cannabis at school, with Nick committing suicide in 2004, aged 28.
"There is this feeling that within the public school system children are safe from the dangers of the outside world. Actually, you are just as vulnerable as anybody – and more vulnerable because of your money," she added.
"Since speaking at many independent schools, it is shocking to have discovered that the pupils are not informed about the sophisticated grooming techniques used by drug dealers, to help unsuspecting, naive, wealthy pupils to progress from the 'fun' of recreational drugs to a place of despair, decay and death."
She urged headteachers to tackle the "silent epidemic" of drug addiction.