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Primary school pupil had knife in class

Dan Thompson
6/ 3/2008

A PRIMARY school pupil has been found with a pocket knife in a classroom.

Teachers were forced to confiscate the penknife, which the young boy had been keeping in his desk tray.

A parent of the child’s classmate had tipped off staff at St Gabriel's School, in Middleton Junction, who dealt with the situation immediately.

Although the incident happened in December, it has only come to light this week.

The revelation comes just weeks after our sister TV station Channel M obtained figures showing 12 pupils had been caught with knives in Greater Manchester primary schools over the last two years.

A total of 52 students had been found with blades in schools across the region, according to information obtained from Greater Manchester Police under the Freedom of Information Act.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has said some schools in the area could get airport-style metal detectors in a drive to tackle youth knife crime.

A concerned parent of a child at St Gabriel’s, who asked to remain anonymous, said it was worrying that a child so young was taking a penknife into the school.

"It’s a massive concern," he said. "It’s only been brought to my attention this week by another parent and I want to know how the school is dealing with it."

Janet Abbott, headteacher at the Aspinall Street school, said because no-one had been hurt or threatened with the penknife, it was not necessary to inform other parents at the school

She said: "This happened back in December, when a parent told a teacher that one of their child's classmates had a penknife in their desk tray.

"The teacher followed this up straight away - the penknife was confiscated and the pupil's parent was informed.

"No-one was threatened or hurt in any way, so there was no need for any other parents to be informed.

"We do take any complaints from parents very seriously and always investigate them. In this case we acted on the information given and dealt with the matter quickly."

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