School stabbing horror

Staff save screaming welfare officer after girl, 16, attacks her in her office with kitchen knife

A SCHOOL counsellor was saved by colleagues who heard her cries of ‘help me’ as she was attacked in her office by a teenage girl armed with a kitchen knife.

The pupil stabbed welfare officer Joy Simon, 61, several times before she was restrained and held by staff until emergency services arrived minutes later.

Police have arrested a 16-year-old girl on suspicion of attempted murder. The incident has stunned family friends because the girl was regarded as quiet and well-behaved with no known personal problems.

Mrs Simon was taken to hospital after treatment by paramedics. She was said to have suffered serious but not life-threatening injuries and police said she is expected to make a full recovery.

The incident happened at Winterton Community Academy in North Lincolnshire at 9am yesterday as children were still arriving at the secondary school.

The welfare officer, whose job is to help children with personal problems, was in her office near reception when she was set upon. The attacker is said to have told another child waiting outside the room to speak to Mrs Simon to ‘go to your form’ and then walked in and attacked the unsuspecting grandmother with a knife.

Georgina Corney, 19, said her mother Lisa Hall, 39, was working as a cleaner at the school and was alerted by the victim’s screams. ‘She was really shaken up,’ said Miss Corney of her mother.

‘She said a girl dropped her school bag outside the administration officer’s room and gone in and attacked her. The cleaners were upstairs. They heard screams and thought it was kids messing about. Then they heard the woman crying “Help me. Help me. Get off me.”

‘So the cleaners went down to the office. They were followed by the PE staff who grabbed the girl and held on to her until the emergency services arrived.’

Mrs Simon had a cut to her face but the details of her injuries have not been revealed. She is said to have lost consciousness but came round before paramedics arrived. No other children witnessed the attack. Parents were sent a text message to inform them of a ‘serious incident’ at the school but that all pupils were safe.

Head teacher Gareth Morris described it as a ‘very isolated incident’. He said a Year 11 student ‘brought a small kitchen knife into school and attacked a member of staff in her office’. He praised staff for their quick and ‘instinctive’ reaction.

Mrs Simon, who was named locally and not by the authorities, is a widow, motherof-two and grandmother from the nearby village of Winteringham. She has worked at the school for many years and is a popular figure in her village.

Neighbours said she was a keen gardener and walker. Mervyn Smith, 85, said: ‘Joy is a lovely woman. I only spoke to her yesterday, this is a great shock. She takes no nonsense. She is an authoritative sort of woman at work. She believes in discipline.’

A neighbour of the 16-year- old girl who has a son at the same school and has known the family for 30 years said she was baffled by the incident.

‘She is a lovely, quiet girl. She is a beautiful and quite clever young woman so I was in shock to be told she was involved. She’s never been a problem at the school so I don’t understand this.’

The mother knew of no mental health issues or problems involving the school welfare officer that the girl had been involved in.