Coroner asks Ofsted to act over weapons in schools

A WEST Yorkshire coroner has asked Ofsted to consider changes to its inspections following the inquest into the death of murdered Leeds teacher Ann Maguire.

In a report published yesterday, Assistant Coroner Kevin McCloughlin said there was an unquestionable need to take action over the issue of weapons in the country’s schools.

He asked the education watchdog to consider making it mandatory for inspectors to review and report on how a school protects pupils and staff from the risk of violent attack.

Mrs Maguire, 61, was fatally stabbed by pupil Will Cornick as she taught a Spanish class at Corpus Christi Catholic College in Leeds on April 28, 2014.

An inquest into her death concluded that she was unlawfully killed and died as the result of a stab wound to her neck.

During the hearing, it emerged that 15-year-old Cornick had told a number of pupils about his plan to kill three teachers and showed some of them the kitchen knife he had taken from home. But none of those pupils raised the alarm with teachers or other adults.

Concerns arising from this evidence are set out in a Report to Prevent Future Deaths which was sent to Ofsted on November 22.

In it, Mr McCloughlin said: “The need to prevent weapons such as knives being brought into schools in the UK is axiomatic. How schools perceive the risks associated with weapons and manage them appears to be the subject of widespread variation.”

The report noted that Cornick was jailed after admitting Mrs Maguire’s murder and is now serving life sentence with a minimum term of 20 years.

It detailed how 10 children knew of his plans and some saw the knife, but none said anything to their teachers.

The inquest also heard Ofsted inspectors had visited the school 10 months before the attack, and reported pupils felt “very safe”.

Mr McCloughlin noted that inspections already consider the issue of safety, but inspectors inevitably have to prioritise what aspects of a particular school will be scrutinised.

Urging action, he said: “In order to give greater prominence to the need to control any weapon being brought into school, Ofsted are asked to consider making it mandatory for their inspectors to review and report on the way a school manages the safety of its pupils and staff and protects them from risk of violent attack.”

Ofsted was invited to comment but had not responded when The

Yorkshire Post went to press.