Pupils 'wear stab vests to school'

Pupils are wearing stab vests to school because of fears of knife attacks, a report has warned.
The study of gang violence found some children were taking weapons in to school and hiding them in the school grounds.
One
school reported students were found with screwdrivers, hammers and
chisels. Some pupils bring weapons in to schools because of fear of
attack, researchers were told.
The report's authors were told
it was only a matter of time before a teacher was shot in school. One
interviewee said gangs led to a "significant risk to staff".
Children
as young as 12 were being drawn in to gang violence, pupils said. The
authors were also told that in one school pupils spend "more time
talking about the gangs than they do learning".

Interviews were conducted with staff and pupils at four unnamed schools by Perpetuity Consulting for the teachers' union NASUWT.
NASUWT
general secretary Chris Keates said: "The research suggests that there
is no widespread problem of gang related activity in schools but where
it exists it is of significant concern."
A spokesman for the
Department for Children, Schools and Families said: "The vast majority
of schools are very safe places and incidents with knives are
incredibly rare. We do not see any need for pupils to be wearing
stab-proof vests."
Meanwhile new figures released by Britain's
largest police force show fatal stabbings rose last year as the number
of deadly shootings fell.
The Metropolitan Police said there
were 83 knife killings in 2008, compared with 74 the previous year.
Meanwhile the number of gun murders fell from 30 to 17.





This is a sad state of affairs.