'Death threat' boys were good in class, says head

The boys at the centre of the "death threats" dispute are "bright and were not disruptive in class", their headmaster has told The Independent on Sunday in an exclusive interview. Stuart Turner, head of Glyn Technology School in Ewell, Surrey, also said that he did not consult the boys' parents when he made the decision to exclude the boys because the 44 menacing calls that they made to PE teacher Steve Taverner were "such a clear-cut case for exclusion".

Surrey County Council will ask both sets of parents on Monday to accept "in principle" the boys moving to another school.

The boys were excluded in June and reinstated on appeal by a county council-appointed panel last month. The teacher whom they threatened then went on sick leave and the rest of the school's staff declined to teach the boys. The boys, who have since been taught by a supply teacher, were not at Glyn on Friday.

A solution to the impasse would come as a relief to Secretary of State for Education Estelle Morris, under firefor attempting to intervene to uphold the original exclusion.