
Police have commended the ‘vigilance and professionalism’ of staff who help to uncover knives in schools following the release of new figures.
A request made under the Freedom of Information Act shed light on the number of incidents of knives being brought into schools that have been reported across Barrow, Walney, Dalton and Askam.
The statistics were requested in the wake of the alleged stabbing of a 15-year-old by a 16-year-old boy at Walney School in January.
Between and including the years 2017 and 2021, six incidents of knife possession on school premises in the above areas were reported to police, all of them in Barrow.
Five of these reports were made by St Bernard’s School and one by the South Cumbria Pupil Referral Unit at Newbridge House.
According to the response, five of these incidents concerned knife possession alone, with the other involving threats being made with a knife.
Peter Croft, headteacher at St Bernard’s, stressed the school took ‘a very strict line’ when it came to children bringing knives into school.
“Our policy is that any such incidents are immediately reported to the police, and are dealt with seriously,” he said.
“The school takes the safeguarding of its students very seriously and can confirm that all regulatory and statutory obligations have been fulfilled and complied with proactively, comprehensively and consistently.”
Supt Matt Pearman, of Cumbria Constabulary, said: “We always take all these incidents seriously and we can see that action was taken on each incident, either through a charge, caution or community resolution – with the correct outcome chosen according to factors including whether or not this was a first offence.
“We can also see that the actions, vigilance and professionalism of staff in the schools involved has helped uncover these offences, which should also offer some reassurance to parents and the wider community.”
Supt Pearman said Cumbria ‘thankfully’ did not have a specific knife culture or youth gang culture.
“We work closely throughout the year with partner agencies to enforce the law on possession of knives and we also work to tackle the problem through education,” he said.
“But we are never complacent about an issue as serious as this, so work hard all year round to prevent and find the correct outcome for these types of crimes.”