TWO 12-year-old girls have been expelled from a top Suffolk boarding school after making a raunchy home video.The pupils were thrown out of the £17,000-a-year Royal Hospital School, in Holbrook, after posing in front of a hand-held camcorder.

TWO 12-year-old girls have been expelled from a top Suffolk boarding school after making a raunchy home video.

The pupils were thrown out of the £17,000-a-year Royal Hospital School, in Holbrook, after posing in front of a hand-held camcorder.

The girls, who have not been identified, were wearing just their underwear in the short clip, which was shown to a number of pupils before being discovered by staff.

The footage was immediately confiscated when found and passed to headmaster Howard Blackett, who interviewed the girls in the presence of their parents.

The incident resulted in a total of six people being disciplined, with four of the pupils suspended for one week for their part in it. Their identities are also unknown but they have since returned to their studies.

Mr Blackett, referring to a “disciplinary incident”, said: “Shortly after half-term, it was brought to my attention that two girls in year eight, both aged 12, had made a home-made film of themselves using a small handheld video camera, posing in their underwear and that the film had been shown to a small number of other pupils in the school.

“The matter was fully investigated by the deputy headmaster and the senior mistress. I interviewed all the pupils concerned, together with their parents. The upshot of the investigation and my interview was that four pupils were suspended from the Royal Hospital School for one week and the two girls concerned have been expelled.”

Mr Blackett has been headmaster at the school since September 2004.

The Royal Hospital School is East Anglia's largest independent boarding school, set on a 200-acre campus with 631 boys and girls aged 11 to 18.

It has a top academic reputation and from September 2006 it will also be welcoming day pupils throughout the school. Pupils achieve consistently high academic standards - at A-level there has been a 100% pass rate for the last four years.

A number of bursaries are available for pupils wishing to attend the top educational establishment.

There have been a number of royal visits to the school over years, with Prince Andrew one of the most recent, in May.