NOBODY would argue against the use of the internet to aid our children's education.

But just as quickly as pupils go online, some of them find a way to abuse the system.

The latest example is the case of two sixth-form pupils who left a church high school after an investigation into an offensive and "non Christian" website which ridiculed classmates.

The teenage girls, students at St Wilfrid's Church of England High School and Technology College, Duckworth Street, Blackburn, claimed the site was a "joke."

But headteacher David Whyte said it featured photographs of other pupils spouting offensive remarks from super-imposed speech bubbles.

He said the remarks "contained an anti-faith message" and the site was "totally against the Christian foundation of the school."

Pupils have always abused other pupils and staff behind their backs.

Modern technology allows them to take that abuse away from the bike shed wall and on to the world wide web.

That's when a localised problem becomes accessible to a much wider audience, with all the upset and hurt that can bring.

And that is why it is so important that parents heed the warnings and make sure they know what their children are doing when they log on.