The Leicestershire police force has justified its bid for a pound;16,000 Home Office grant by saying pupils at Lutterworth grammar school were regular drug-users outside the school gates and implying they are involved in heroin and ecstasy use.

The force says it needs the grant to fund a mobile CCTV camera. But headteacher Chris Henstock says police have never reported a single incident of drug abuse to the school. He called the claim “outrageous”.

The school is demanding an unreserved, formal apology from Leicestershire police. And the county’s director of education, Jackie Strong, has written to the chief constable to lodge a formal complaint.

The claim was made in a report drafted by senior officers. Its introduction, by Inspector Mick Norman of the force’s community unit, said there was evidence in the town centre that “ecstasy and heroin are the predominant Class A drugs available within Lutterworth.

“Students at Lutterworth grammar school are known to be involved in the misuse of controlled drugs in the vicinity of the school.”

A furious Mr Henstock said that at no time - to his knowledge - had a single student been questioned, stopped or searched by police in regard to drugs; no student had been found in possession of drugs; and no student has been arrested.

“These statements are completely outrageous. There is no evidence for this at all. There has not been a single contact with the police expressing a concern about drugs,” he said. “The content of this paper appears to me a complete fabrication and a totally unwarranted slur on the school and its students.”

He called it a “breakdown in any attempt at genuine community policing”.

A spokesman for Leicestershire police said: “There is evidence of drugs misuse in Lutterworth by a number of people, and police and other agencies are attempting to tackle this.”

But there was no comment on the specific complaint by the school.