‘Code of discipline can’t be changed for exam students’

School discipline rules should not be changed for sixth-year students involved in serious misbehaviour or whose pranks get out of hand, a principals’ leader has claimed.

A number of schools are reported to have expelled or suspended Leaving Certificate students in recent weeks after a range of incidents as they finish up classes before next month’s exams.

In two cases, both involving students of fee-paying schools in Dublin, a student was reported to have been tied up and left abandoned in the grounds of a nearby school. The sanctions ranged from exclusion from school graduations to suspensions; and three students at another Dublin school were reportedly expelled this month after a rave party was held in the student common room.