Campaigners are calling for life-saving knife crime education to be made part of the National Curriculum in schools.
The North East Knife Crime Taskforce is to lobby Government to ensure children learn about the dangers of carrying blades from a young age.
It is hoped aspects of the harrowing complex nationwide problem can be worked into pupils’ personal development at key stages of their school lives to have a lasting impact.
Read next: First meeting of North East Knife Crime Taskforce in Durham
Darlington MP Peter Gibson said the taskforce meeting was ‘hard-hitting’ and said it should signal a ‘wake-up call for the work needed on education to tackle this serious life and death issue’.
The forum is also calling on headteachers and academy trusts to allow campaigning relatives of victims into schools to share their own heartrending experiences with youngsters.
Zoey McGill, from Newton Aycliffe, whose 18-year-old son Jack Woodley died after he was stabbed at Houghton Feast in October 2021, said: “It is about stopping about anyone going through we are as families who have lost their children.
“It has to stop. Every time there is another one it hits me like a truck and takes me back to the night Jack died because I know what they are going through.
“It is very important to have these messages in schools and for them to see the real effects.”
Read more: The Northern Echo calls on the Prime Minister for urgent action on knife crime
In June 2019, new lesson plans were sent to 20,000 Personal and Social Health Education teachers to help them teach students aged between 11 and 16 about knife crime.
The hour-long lessons were developed based on feedback from teachers and feature real-life case studies but campaigning parents argue the emotive experience of hearing first-hand about children from North East communities is far more effective.
But the taskforce, which was set up by the Northern Echo, heard how some pupils are going through schools without receiving any lessons on knife crime.
Newton Aycliffe neighbourhood police Sergeant Andy Boyd told the forum how he had delivered a presentation about Jack's death featuring interviews with Zoey to around 2,000 young people in the town and said it was clear the message was getting across.
Simon Brown’s son, Connor, died at the age of 18 after a fatal stabbing in Sunderland in 2019.
He and his wife Tanya have since formed the Connor Brown Trust to educate children in schools about the dangers of carrying knives.
Mr Brown said: “The Government really needs to get its head out of the sand.
“This thing is happening and it is real. Families like ours are suffering still and this is never going to go away unless they get on top of it now.
“More politicians need to come to one of these meetings and to sit and listen to what the police are having to deal with, the funding they have got and how hard it is for the families.”
Darlington MP Peter Gibson, who attended the meeting at County Hall in Durham, said: “I was pleased to be invited by the Northern Echo to their knife crime forum, bringing together a range of agencies and perhaps most importantly the families of victims.
“The hard-hitting event was a wake-up call for the work needed on education to tackle this serious life and death issue. I look forward to championing the efforts of the forum in Parliament.”
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The taskforce is also calling on headteachers and academy trusts to allow campaigners who have lost loved ones to knife crime to open their doors so pupils can hear first-hand about the devastating impact of going out into the community armed with a knife.
Alison Madgin, from Wallsend, started Samantha’s Legacy after her 18-year-old daughter was stabbed to death in an unprovoked attack in August 2007.
Ms Madgin said: “It is very important for headteachers to get on board because they are part of the education system.
“They are seeing these kids every day. They know their kids individually and maybe they know which ones need it more than others. It has to be spoken about.
“As victims of knife crime when we go into school the difference is they can hear it from our point of view and they can see we are real people and Samanatha was a real person.
“It grabs their attention and because we are not in a position of authority we can deliver it how it should be delivered.”
The importance of educating young people was echoed by Simon Smart, of Cleveland Violence Reduction Unit, who said it was the ‘first level of prevention’.
He said: “The early intervention element of reducing serious violence and knife crime for the whole of the country is essential.”
Read next:
- How the tragic deaths of North East stabbing victims could shape knife crime policy
- Open letter to Prime Minister for action on knife crime
- Powerful video shows County Durham mum singing to her murdered son on death bed
A Department for Education spokesperson said the Government is investing over £50 million to fund specialist support in both mainstream and Alternative Provision schools in the areas where serious violence most impacts children.
The spokesperson said: “Schools can tailor their teaching to suit the issues that their pupils face, including focusing on knife crime as part of the ‘criminal exploitation’ parts of the relationships, sex and health curriculum.”
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