A company has apologised for sending penknives to a special school for children with emotional problems.
The head of Southfield School in Wokingham, Berkshire, Mike Pedley, was sent two penknives carrying the school name and postcode by National Pen Ltd, inviting him to sign up for more.
He said: "I'm appalled, horrified - in the middle of a knife amnesty too."
A member of staff at National Pen's Manchester base said responsibility lay with the firm's US-based marketing department.
"We are very sorry. We were shocked when we found out," he said.
APPEAL PANELS
Exclusion appeal panels are independent of local authorities. They operate in relative secrecy: names of the members are not published, they meet behind closed doors and their deliberations are not published.
But their decisions are binding on all involved - so if they decide to reinstate pupils the school has no option but to take them back. The only appeal is by way of judicial review in the High Court.
The guidance to the panels was changed in response to concerns from head teachers, in particular, that pupils they had expelled for violence were being reinstated.
In 2000, the then education secretary David Blunkett made it clear to appeal panels it was inappropriate for youngsters who had used "violence or the severe threat of violence" to be "thrust back into the same school".
But the courts have held that, for one thing, guidance is just that - it is not rules.
And in a Court of Appeal case, Lord Justice Schiemann said the way guidance was originally issued - in a ministerial speech to teachers - was important.
He said it was "evident that the changes were in part intended to satisfy or mollify a particular constituency and a particular segment of public opinion".
If ministers used their powers "by announcing them in a manner or in a context suggestive of a search for political gain, the courts are likely to construe the changes cautiously".
The government also changed the constitution of the appeal panels:
- to make them more "school friendly", they should mostly be people with direct teaching experience
- they should focus on the key issues - rather than taking account of any technical irregularity in the exclusion process
- they should balance the interests of the excluded pupil against the interests of the whole school community.
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