DURING the last week, Stonyhurst College has found itself hitting the headlines worldwide.

Teenagers Edward Bunyan and Indira Gainiyeva’s decision to run away to the sun of the Caribbean saw the £30,000-a-year boarding school in the full glare of the media spotlight.

Now with the couple safely located, the business of getting on with school life is top of the agenda for head teacher Andrew Johnson.

But lessons are also being learned to prevent a similar situation happening in the future.

The school is undoubtedly in a difficult position.

It is charged with the heavy duty of acting as ‘in loco parentis’ to sixth-form students getting their first real taste of freedom. The school also aims to instil in its pupils confidence so they can become the leaders of the future. But at the same time they are also endeavouring to teach hormonal teenagers good sense and judgement.

Mr Johnson is quite right when he says the school cannot be a prison to these youngsters on the cusp of adulthood.

But, as with most things in life, there are rules that have to be observed for the good of both the individual and the organisation.

In this case, school rules have been shattered and it would seem that some form of punishment is almost inevitable.