A TEAM of experts is to be set up in Lancashire to deal with out-of-control pupils.

The county has been selected as one of 22 local education authorities to get special help to deal with classroom troublemakers in a new £3.7 million initiative.

Lancashire has got half a million pounds to send social workers and educational psychologists into schools to tackle the problem.

The county council preferred this approach rather than opting for more Pupil Referral Units or so-called 'sin bins' which take difficult youngsters out of school and into special centres.

"Our philosophy is to keep pupils in school wherever possible," said education chairman Stan Wright. He denied that Lancashire had a bad school discipline problem. "The money was granted because we put in a good, well-reasoned bid and the Government can trust us to come up with good results," he said.

Neil Thornley, North West council member of the National Association of Head Teachers, gave the move a cautious welcome.

Mr Thornley, head of Fearns High School, Bacup, believes the knife murder of London head teacher Philip Lawrence had spurred the Government into action to deal with pupils expelled from schools.

"There are some schools in the country that are persecuted by gangs of youths," he said.

"We need to have a multi-agency assessment of pupils and if we start doing that we can address the problem, rather than just hiding these pupils away."

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