A SCHOOL in Totton has been praised for the efficient way it tackled reports that mobile phones were being used to smuggle in drugs.

The incident made front-page news last month when police were called in to check 18 confiscated phones at Testwood School.

They had been invited in by the headteacher Margaret Capsomidis after police informed her that "named adults" had expressed concerns in the run-up to a visit from government inspectors.

This week Pc Rus Donaldson, the New Forest's officer for the Hampshire-wide Get Real programme - a joint initiative between schools and police dealing with various youth issues - has backed the school's swift actions.

Pc Donaldson, based on the Waterside, regularly visits schools in the area. He said: "I have been involved with the drug prevention at the school for the last two years and they have a very level-headed and practical approach to drug awareness.

"Information was passed to the school by the police and it was acted on immediately. It's unfortunate that parents, view investigations into suspected drug use as reflecting badly on a school. The opposite is true. Given the high-level of illicit drug use in society, no mainstream secondary school can safely claim that none of their pupils use illegal drugs or indeed that no such drugs are brought into school premises.

"Any school which robustly and pro-actively tackles the issue of drugs in school should be commended."

Get Real has been running since 1997. It encourages about 8,000 pupils to consider issues such as personal safety, drug use and misuse and good citizenship.

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