FOUR teenagers arrested at a Hampshire school over fears of drug dealing will not face any charges.

As reported in June, the 15-year-olds were detained by police who were called into The Mountbatten School in Romsey by teachers who had been alerted by worried pupils to dealing involving Ecstasy and cannabis.

Police arrested three Year 10 pupils – two boys and a girl — during school time, and later picked up another boy at an address in the town later that day.

The four youngsters, all from Romsey, were bailed after being questioned through the evening by detectives at Southampton Central police station.

When they reported back to police, all four were told they would escape formal charges.

Two of the boys were given final warnings for offering to supply class A drugs, and possession of a class B drug.

The warnings, similar to cautions for adults, will remain on the youngsters’ police records, however.

The third boy was given a youth restorative disposal (YRD) for possession of class A and class B drugs, while the girl got the same treatment for possession of a class B drug and attempting to possess a class A drug.

Their cases will be referred to the youth offending team, who will work with them to address their behaviour with the aim of stopping them repeat any criminal behaviour.

YRDs are available to police under a government pilot scheme for dealing with first offences by 10 to 17-year-olds, and avoids them having any formal criminal record.

All four were suspended by the Whitenap Lane school for a week after the arrests while staff discussed with police and county council officials how best to proceed.

It is not yet known if they have been allowed back to school.

Leaders at the school, which is graded “good with outstanding features” by Ofsted and last term broke free from council control to become an academy, said they would also be reviewing policies and looking at how best to educate youngsters about substance abuse.

Following the incident, officers from the Romsey Safer Neighbourhoods team visited Mountbatten and nearby The Romsey School to give a series of talks to Year 9 and 10 pupils about the dangers and consequences of drugs misuse.

Deputy head teacher Diana McDonnell said at the time: “We now need to somehow make something good out of this so children are fully aware of the implications of drugs.

“Parents should be reassured that children feel safe to report their concern and that it was taken seriously.

“We’ll certainly be looking again at our drug education programme to see if there’s anything we could have done to prevent this.”