Denefield school pupils eating cannabis cake 'unprecedented'

Denefield School is a secondary school in Tilehurst

The head teacher of a school where children ate cakes laced with cannabis said it was "absolutely unprecedented" in its history.

Six children, all aged 14, were taken to hospital and others were seen by paramedics at Denefield School in Tilehurst, near Reading.

Edwin Towill said the school had an "incredibly robust drugs policy".

A pupil gave the cakes to a "small number of friends" on Friday, West Berkshire Council said.

Mr Towill told BBC Berkshire: "This is absolutely unprecedented in the history of the school. We've never had anything like this before.

"Our staff were very alert to it and alert to the possibility of drugs because we know drugs are rife in society.

"We've never had it before and God willing we'll never have it again."

The pupils ate cakes, not the one pictured, which contained "cannabis or a cannabis-related product"

Police said no-one had been arrested and an investigation into what happened was under way.

Mr Towill said all pupils had been spoken to about the incident.

"No parent wants to send their child into a school where there might be drugs," he said.

"We've had one drugs incident and that is one drugs incident too many.

"Parents were worried about what happened in school but they were very much aware of the fact that some children will be exposed to drugs and they valued the advice we were able to give."

The pupil who brought the cakes to school has been permanently excluded.