NO head teacher takes the decision to expel a pupil lightly.

A school is a place of nurturing, as well as of education: and very often it is precisely the most disruptive pupils who are in greatest need of that nurturing. A school that resorts to expulsion is a school that has failed a child who needs it most.

That said, we believe the decision by All Saints' head teacher Bill Scriven to expel two teenage girls caught taking ecstasy tablets was the right one.

Drugs are pernicious. They blight hopes and destroy lives.

But all too often, for young people in particular, they have a kind of false glamour: a sheen of sophistication and rebellion that hides the sordid reality. The drugs culture thrives on impressionable young people who want to appear smarter, wiser, older and sassier than they really are - and who desperately want to belong.

That culture must never be allowed to take root in our schools. Quite rightly, Mr Scriven's decision to expel the two girls was not taken lightly. But the decision he did take, after much searching of his conscience, was quite right.

There is still cause for concern, however, over the wider picture of school expulsions we report today. The number of pupils permanently excluded from York schools has risen more than five-fold in two years.

The reasons given range from assault and disruptive behaviour to violence, verbal abuse and possession of drugs.

None of these pupils, we are sure, was easy to deal with. Their schools will probably run much more smoothly once they have gone. Both staff and other children will no doubt be happier.

But schools have a duty to give these children every chance. Permanent exclusion must always be the very last option.

Updated: 10:54 Monday, May 01, 2006