Substance Misuse: School allocates money for drug testing scheme

Testing was introduced for an initial six-month period at Abbey School in Faversham, Kent, in January this year and start-up funding of 10,000 was provided by the News of the World newspaper. Between 10 and 20 tests are carried out every week, and the project will cost roughly 10,000 to administer for a year.

Peter Walker, head of the school, said: "The feeling is that behaviour has improved and we think we're on course for record exam results. The students' response has been very positive."

Walker gained the support of governors, parents, local police and Kent Council on Addiction to set up the pilot, which will be reviewed by Kent County Council in July. If the project is deemed to be successful, Walker intends to make money available from school budgets, subject to approval by the governors.