Knives rule in school kids' fights
Bruce McDougall
From: <cite> The Daily Telegraph </cite>
November 26, 2010 12:00AM
CHILDREN as young as five are taking knives to school for protection, to threaten classmates or big note in front of other students.
Incidents involving knives or other weapons are being reported at a rate of 10 per week inside and outside schools across the state. In the most serious cases, children, teachers and principals have been threatened and occasionally injured.
Knives were by far the most common weapon but reported incidents had also involved replica pistols, a machete, a steel chain, a sharp wooden stake, scissors, knuckle dusters, a hammer, broken bottles and even a bow and arrow.
Serious incident reports to the Department of Education and Training showed that students - many in primary schools - were found with weapons on 217 occasions during the first two terms this year. Department officials said 125 of the incidents involved knives.
In one of the most disturbing incidents, a boy in kindergarten produced a knife from his bag when a female classmate refused to hand over a food bar to him. And a boy in Year 6 was taken away by police after lunging at an assistant principal with a broken bottle.
In March this year the DET published a bulletin warning parents they could be charged if they allowed their child to carry a knife in school. But over following weeks a steady stream of reports of knife incidents continued to flow to the department.
Inside Plumpton Marketplace, in Sydney's west, security footage in May showed a Year 9 student stealing a knife from Woolworths and using it to stab a 16-year-old boy. A month later, Kyeesha Frail, 9, became the victim of a terrifying incident at Kingswood.
A boy, also 9, was accused of producing a knife and telling Kyeesha: "If you don't want to be my friend I'm going to cut your neck." Last year 631 long suspensions were handed out for offences involving knives or other weapons.
Serious incident reports show one Year 4 boy brought a knife to school for "show and tell", and then threatened two Year 5 students. On the North Coast, a Year 8 boy was found with a knife with a 12cm pull-out blade strapped to his lower leg and hidden in his socks.
A DET spokesman said: "We have the toughest knife laws in Australia and if a student has a weapon at school they'll be suspended and the police called."
STUDENTS WITH KNIVES - CASE STUDIES
* A kindergarten boy in Sydney's west asked a female classmate to give him a food bar. When she refused the boy produced a knife and made seven small holes in the girl's bag. Her mother later complained to police who attended the school next day. The boy claimed he found the knife in the playground and threw it into a garbage bin after the incident. Disciplinary action was taken by the school
* A Year 6 female opened the desk drawer in the assistant principal's office and pulled out a stanley knife. She pushed the blade open and pointed the knife at the assistant principal. As the victim ran out of the room the student slashed the assistant principal's chair before running into the playground and throwing the weapon over a fence. Police were called to the school
* Students were attending a fitness program when a Year 6 boy picked up a bottle, smashed the top off it and lunged at the assistant principal in western Sydney. The boy then smashed a window and threw glass at police who apprehended him.
* On the NSW north coast a Year 8 boy with an intellectual disability threatened to harm school staff with a knife. He said he would not surrender the weapon until he had killed his victim. He was persuaded to put the knife down. The younger student was not injured.
(Source: NSW Department of Education and Training serious incident reports)
