Pupils get lessons on the danger of knife crime
School children across the country will be given lessons in the danger of carrying knives under a new Home Office ruling.
Nearly 50,000 teachers in England have been provided with lesson plans designed to steer pupils away from knife crime ahead of the summer holidays.
The move has been welcomed by West Midlands Police, which has been working with local schools to tackle the scourge of knife crime.
The region has seen a series of knife related murders in recent months, including Keelan Wilson, who was stabbed to death in Wolverhampton in May.
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According to the Home Office, the hour-long lessons will aim to educate 11 to 16-year-olds about the dangers of social media, the potential impact of carrying a blade and possible strategies to resist peer pressure.
WMP Chief Constable Dave Thompson said it was right that ‘an appropriate’ curriculum for schools featuring such lessons was the right move. Knife crime is everyone’s problem, and I am really pleased that the Home Office has followed our lead,” he added.
West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson has launched a series of measures aimed at improving awareness around the dangers of knife crime as part of his gangs and violence strategy.
He said: “It is excellent that they are emulating some of the work that the chief and I kicked off several weeks ago. We have been doing quite a lot of work with the most challenging schools, and this is spreading it out to all schools.”
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