A Year 5 student was found to be carrying a kitchen knife in their school bag at a primary school in Newport this morning (Friday), prompting a letter to be sent to parents warning them to remain vigilant.
Concerned children noticed the knife – of an undisclosed size – at the beginning of the school day. The responsible youngsters quickly alerted teachers to the alarming situation, with immediate action taken.
Parents of Year 5 students at Carisbrooke CE Primary School have been reassured by headteacher Lloyd Watkins after the ‘highly unusual’ incident. Mr Watkins says that he met with the child – thought to be a young girl – and her mother this morning to discuss the severity of the incident and the girl was sent home.
It has been confirmed that the knife had not been taken out of the child’s bag prior to the time of discovery, nor used for any particular purpose. However, the school say they are unclear as to why the child brought it into school in the first place.
Island Echo is told that the knife was ‘shown’ to 4 or 5 children. Concerns have been raised that children in the school may have been ‘daring’ one another to make bad choices.
In a letter sent home to parents today, Mr Watkins says:
“I wish to ensure [sic] all parents that this matter has been treated with the upmost importance…
“This incident is highly unusual in our primary school and, after putting an initial consequence into place, the school will be working with the child and their family on trying to understand the reasons for these actions/what may have led up to it occurring.
Article continues below this advertisement “In addition to informing you about this incident as a matter of due diligence, I would encourage parents to be vigilant themselves in checking for any signs of inappropriate behaviours or activities from your children at home.
“School has not yet managed to definitively determine why a child chose to bring a knife into school, but it is possible that children may have been discussing knives in the lead up to this, air possibly ‘daring’ each other to make bad choices such as this.
“We will continue to investigate at school and support all children to make good, safe choices – please do also be vigilant with regards to this matter at home”.
It is thought that the child at the centre of the knife alert has been excluded from the school for 1 week.
The future ha what a joke body scanners soon at primary schools glad I am old fart
For an ‘old fart’ I would have thought you’d have learnt some grammar at school.
Very frightening
My sons school
Why was the childs parents not more vigilant in monitoring what the child had in her bag, this incident could have been worse.
Why do these kids even think of taking knives & the like to school in first place?
Well done the children that reported this issue to adults.
Why excluded from school for a week that’s like a reward to the child.
Could have been a thug in the making.
Kept home to stop the child from possibly bringing another knife to school and using it !
That’s why. Untill they figure out if she is a danger .
Surely if child is monitored properly another knife being taken to school should be zero surely.
The school should be more than able to deal with the issue.
By your criteria the child could well not go to school again.
Get her back asap & monitor her, if not in school on streets during day causing problems & on track to thug world.
Other kids might look at it if I bring a knife into school i get time off, what is our world coming to reward for bad & possibly dangerous situation / behaviour!
Start of gang culture??? Lets get Aziz Haz Da Anzerz thoughts on this one
Bob, simple, if you take your children to a Monkey world, chance are, on the way home they will act out some of the actions of what they have seen.
When our front rooms have massive televisions showing ‘locals’ in London and other inner city areas behaving in such a way carrying and happy to use knives, the young will again ‘act out’ the antics they see or hear about unless they have decent parents.
Many sadly are unlikely to know the ‘sperm donner’ nowadays, for ‘Fathers’ many of them ‘are NOT’.
Probably was done as a dare, or possibly they thought it’d look cool. Either way it’s very concerning.
What that gotta do with it?
What has race or colour got to do with it. A knife is a knife being carried into a school by a child.
You are a conplete fool..love to know your real name
complete*
More bad parenting….
How do you know that? Have you some evidence?
Why question the ethnicity? do you know somthing we don’t? or are presuming it’s something that only happens in Isle of Wight culture?…
This is a good school and I have every confidence that the incident will be dealt with appropriately by the school leaders.