Boy of 9 brandishes blade in classroom

... days after police visited to talk about knife crime

A BOY of nine brandished a blade in class days after police gave a talk on knife crime at his primary.

The youngster showed off the weapon to other pupils before admitting to teachers he had it on him.

He has since been excluded from St Paul’s C of E Primary School in Stoke-on-Trent.

However, parents are angry because they believe the boy has only been hit with a temporary ban and want him permanently excluded to send a message to other children.

In a letter to parents, the school’s headteacher said: ‘A child has brought a knife into school and shown it to a couple of other children in year five.

‘The child has received a severe consequence for this and I have a zero-tolerance policy regarding matters like this. Unfortunately, a few other pupils were aware but did not inform an adult as they felt they were protecting their friend. I have spoken to all of year five about the seriousness of this matter and that there could have been a very different outcome had the child not told an adult themselves.

‘All of the children had only just recently received a workshop from the police about the seriousness of knife crime which makes this all the more upsetting.’ The boy took the knife into school last Tuesday.

Parents with children at the primary said they were informed of the incident later via the school’s app. It is not clear where the boy got the knife, or what type it was. The primary school, which has around 340 pupils, was rated ‘good and improving’ with ‘strong management’ at its last Ofsted inspection. Mothers and fathers said they were also disappointed the letter was only sent to the parents of year five children.

Joshua Lovatt, 26, whose daughter is in the reception year, said: ‘It’s a joke that we haven’t been informed. The child should be kicked out of the school for good.’

Carl Lane, 37, who has three children at the school, said: ‘This is disgusting. The increase in knife crime is crazy and the fact that the pupil has shown it to other children is shocking. The child should be excluded and I’m disgusted that we

‘Should be kicked out for good’

weren’t informed.’ Kaylea Kelsall, 29, who has a daughter in year six, added: ‘It is concerning that a child so young would do something like that, but I have faith in the school to deal with it well.’

The school would not say how long the boy had been excluded for.

Headteacher Nicola Finney said: ‘The situation was dealt with under the guidance of our school policies.

‘The parents of year five pupils were informed because that’s where the child was and that’s where the situation happened. All appropriate actions were followed up and everything was done in line with school policy.’ A spokesman for Staffordshire Police said: ‘As far as we are aware, the matter was not reported to the police.’