Three teenage pupils have been thrown out of Dartmouth Academy after staff discovered their involvement in drug dealing on school premises.

The 15 and 16-year-old boys, who were caught with £30 worth of cannabis on the school playing fields last Friday, have been expelled.

Another two Year 11 boys have been excluded for five days because of their involvement in the incident.

The 16-year-old who was caught with the drugs on him has been given a warning by police but has not been charged with any offence.

Academy principal Nick Hindmarsh said he had a 'total intolerance of drugs in the school' as he confirmed the expulsion of the three pupils.

He said: 'The outcome of these disappointing events is that three Year 11 students have left the academy and two others have been excluded for five days.

'Drugs have not been an issue here for more than three years now and I am committed to ensuring that it will not be an issue while I remain here.

'Clearly we do not live in a bubble and there are those who use drugs in our community but I can assure you we will fully co-operate with the police and other agencies to do all we can to keep the academy a drug-free zone.

'On Monday, I held two assemblies, one for Year 11 and one for Years 8-10.

'In this assembly, I made it clear the likely outcome of this investigation and explained our total intolerance of drugs in school.

'Drugs ruin lives, families and young people's futures.'

Police confirmed they had been called to the school by staff who had confiscated around three grams of herbal cannabis – with a street value of around £30 – from one pupil.

He confirmed that one of the pupils had been taken home to his parents where he as given a 'cannabis warning' which does not involve an arrest or a criminal charge.

Mr Hindmarsh said: 'Last week we were contacted by the police asking if they could search two Year 11 students, who they suspected of dealing drugs at the academy or elsewhere,' said Mr Hindmarsh.

'The two were searched on Friday, December 9, and were found not to be in possession of anything illegal, though paraphernalia of cannabis use was confiscated. Having been alerted, we became suspicious of a small group of Year 11 students at lunchtime.

'We brought the group into the administration area of the academy and started speaking to them one at a time.

'The first student produced some cannabis and said he had brought this in to sell at the request of two of his friends. At this point we contacted the police, who began an investigation,' he said.

He said the Department for Education gives clear guidance to schools on this issue: a first instance of drug possession should be dealt with by a five-day exclusion and any young person dealing drugs should be expelled.

In this case one student was 'dealing' and one other aiding and abetting him.

Three others were aware and closely involved, though not in possession.

Dealing is defined as passing on drugs from one person to another, there does not need to be any exchange of money; the simple act of passing any amount of drugs to another person is all that is required for them to be judged a dealer, he said.

He said he was pleased his staff had acted promptly and properly to combat the problem.

'We have acted in the proper manner in this difficult case. I have a very clear and robust view of how we manage any incident involving drugs in the academy – a view shared and supported by our governors and all our staff,' he said.