TEACHERS are calling for a reform of the appeals procedure after a Preston school was forced to take back a teenager thrown out following a fire which caused £2,000 worth of damage.

A pupil of Our Lady's High School in Fulwood was excluded after a blaze in the changing room on November 5. Police were not called in.

The boy's parents appealed to Lancashire's Education Authority which overruled the decision and left headteacher Tony Greenall powerless to prevent the pupil returning to the school on St Anthony's Drive.

The NASUWT said it deplored the decision which, it said, 'over-ruled the views of the professionals in the school and sent out the wrong message to other pupils'.

A union spokesman added: "It undermines the basis of discipline and could adversely affect the health and safety of staff and pupils.

Members voted to support Mr Greenall's recommendation to include 'a strongly worded statement' in the next Annual Governors' Report.

The NASUWT wants the appeals procedure to 'take full account of the views of the teachers involved'. Headteachers have no right to appeal against the decision.

A Lancashire County Council statement said: "When a pupil is excluded from school, parents by law have a right of appeal by to independent panel which can reinstate a pupil in school.

"Under the present law, schools have to comply with the independent panel's decision."

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