GIRLS at a strictly Orthodox high school in Manchester have been disciplined for breaking a pledge not to use the internet.

Beis Yaakov High School is understood to have taken action against pupils and to have excluded a number of girls. The voluntary-aided school, previously known as Jewish High, says it regards the internet "with great fear and suspicion".

A small number of Beis Yaakov girls are understood to have been subject to fixed-term exclusions in recent weeks after the school learned they had been exchanging emails.

The school confirmed that there had been disciplinary action against girls over the internet ban, but stressed that no girls were currently excluded.

"They had signed a contract to say they would not use email, and they did," said a source. "All families with girls at the school are required to sign up to it. They agree that there will be no internet access at home, except for business reasons."

Beis Yaakov head Rabbi Yochanan Goldblatt said: "It is the policy of the entire governing body to regard the internet with great fear and suspicion.

"The net is like a knife - you have to be old enough to know how to handle it."