Stourbridge school's headteacher speaks out after knife found
A Stourbridge school's headteacher has spoken out to reassure parents after a knife was found when police visited.
Police visited Pedmore High School on Monday as part of ‘Knife Crime Awareness Week’ and brought in a knife arch to scan the 600 pupils for weapons.
Stourbridge Police tweeted about the day explaining one knife had been seized out of nearly 600 pupils.
The officers said: "Thank you to Pedmore Technology College for piloting the screening arch today and helping lead the way in making their school and children safer and raising knife awareness.
"This positive action resulted in one knife being seized out nearly 600 pupils. #stopknifecrime."
But the school's headteacher took to social media to explain that the one knife was a "craft knife" from the school's Design and Technology department and was left on a windowsill.
Headteacher Gareth Lloyd took to the school's Facebook page to say: "The operation was a complete success, all 600 students left through the ‘knife arch’ and the process took less than 10 minutes. We are happy to announce that no knives had been brought into school.
"The knife found was a craft knife similar to the ones we use in our Design & Technology department, the knife hadn’t been stashed or obscured from view but was left in plain sight on a window sill of the corridor that the students left through. We have checked CCTV and we cannot ascertain who put the knife there.
"What is most likely is that a student had used the craft knife in D & T and then, either accidentally or other, put the knife in their pocket. Then realising what was happening, panicked and left the knife on the window sill. Thanks to this incident we will ensure that our processes and policies regarding school equipment will be scrutinised and improved.
"We have a social responsibility to our community and are passionate about ensuring our environment is safe, which is why we offered full cooperation to WPC Lees and her team. The process has been wholly positive and are very happy with the support and resources that have been made available to us by the Neighbourhood Team.
"We would like to reassure our parents and community that the safety and personal development of our students, in that order, are at the heart of everything we do, and the decisions we make. We thank you for your continued support."
