Schools should not be turned into “fortresses” in response to knife crime involving teenagers, education experts have warned.
Harvey Willgoose, a 15-year-old pupil, was stabbed to death at All Saints Catholic High School in Sheffield on Monday.
Knife crime involving teenagers is a “national crisis that needs a national response”, the former children’s commissioner for England has suggested.
But Baroness Anne Longfield told the PA news agency: “I wouldn’t like to see teachers in stab vests or bodycams or metal scanners.
“We can’t turn our schools into fortresses or heighten feelings of school being a dangerous place.
It feels as though this is an issue that has been talked about for years but we are no closer to having practical solutions in place and the terrible suffering caused by knife crime continues unabated
“Knife crime instances inside schools do remain extremely rare.”
Her plea came as a 14-year-old girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was found guilty of attempted murder on Monday after attacking two teachers and another pupil at a school in south Wales last year.
Teachers Fiona Elias and Liz Hopkin, and a pupil, were stabbed at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, on April 24 2024.
Baroness Longfield, who is executive chair of the Centre for Young Lives think tank, said: “Both events, and the many other incidents of serious violence and knife crime involving teenagers, are a sign of the worrying trend of some young people carrying and using knives.
“While thankfully these tragedies are still very rare, I am very concerned that many children are increasingly worried about their safety, particularly outside school.
“It seems hardly a week passes without a teenager being attacked, often by another teenager.”
She added: “Local services should be working with schools to recognise and respond to the early signs of vulnerability and exploitation – whether that’s skipping school, a parent finding a burner phone in their bag, a change in their behaviour – so that no child feels the need to carry a knife.”
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: “Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by this terrible and tragic incident. It is very clear that we need to do more to tackle knife crime as a society.
“Schools educate children about this issue, operate robust disciplinary codes, and where appropriate, conduct searches, and in some cases, use metal detectors.
“However, we cannot turn schools into fortresses and action is needed over the wider problems associated with challenging behaviour and knife crime.
“This means putting in place more specialist support and mental health provision, and it means legislating over the availability and safety of knives and other bladed articles.
“It feels as though this is an issue that has been talked about for years but we are no closer to having practical solutions in place and the terrible suffering caused by knife crime continues unabated.”
I am devastated to hear a boy has died after a stabbing at a school in Sheffield – my heart goes out to his family, friends and the entire school community at this distressing time.
— Bridget Phillipson (@bphillipsonMP) February 3, 2025
We are in contact with the school and council to offer support. Investigations are now underway.
According to a House of Commons research document published in late January, in the year to the end of June 2024 there were 19,903 possession of a knife or offensive weapon offences in England and Wales that resulted in a caution or conviction.
Children aged 10 to 17 were the perpetrators in 18% of the cases.
Other figures show that there were 3,900 incidents where knife crime victims needed care from a hospital consultant in the year 2023/24.
Of these, 192 involved children under the age of 16, and 463 teenagers aged 16 to 18.
Patrick Green, from knife crime charity the Ben Kinsella Trust, said: “Schools are generally safe places and schools, teachers, school governors work incredibly hard to keep them that way.
“For the most part that’s exactly what they are, they are places where young people feel safe.
“However, we have seen a growing number of incidents in schools.
“Stopping knife crime feels like trying to stop the tide coming in, that despite your best efforts it breaches and it breaches in places that you didn’t expect.
It shows how prevalent knife crime is and the fact it can happen anywhere to anyone. It really underlines the tragedy of it
“School would be one of the places we wouldn’t expect to see it because there is such a focus on safety.
“It shows how prevalent knife crime is and the fact it can happen anywhere to anyone. It really underlines the tragedy of it.”
He said that in order to cut knife crime, which rose 4% in the year to June 2024, the cuts of £1.2 billion made to youth services since 2010 must be addressed.
“It’s a reactive measure putting in things like knife wands, knife arches.
“If you look at knife crime incidents they happen in broad daylight, they happen in full view of witnesses, CCTV cameras, often the offender and the victim know each other, the offender knows they are going to get caught.
“The deterrent of the law is not going to stop the incident because the offender is so desensitised to knife crime that nothing will stop them.
“If schools deem it necessary to put in these reactive measures then that’s a decision for them.
“But if we want to get to the root cause of the problem we have to look way beyond this and look at early intervention.”
A government spokesperson said: “Nothing is more important than the safety of children.
“This government recognised the urgency to tackle knife crime nationwide. Last July it was elected on a manifesto that committed to halving knife crime over the next decade.
“We have already banned deadly zombie-style knives, are fast progressing with banning Ninja swords and last week we announced stronger age verification checks when buying knives online, because not enough has been done to grip the online space.
“But we can’t do this alone. One of the first things the Prime Minister and Home Secretary did was launch the Coalition to Tackle Knife Crime, bringing together different communities and voices to ensure our work will actually make a difference.
“In the longer term, we need to ensure that the right prevention systems are in place to stop crime in its tracks, and are developing a Young Futures programme to intervene earlier where kids are at risk of falling into this world, and offer them more opportunities.”
