Bridget Phillipson has said teaching children about the dangers of knife crime in schools could be added to the national curriculum as part of a wide-ranging review if Labour forms the next Government.

The North East Knife Crime Taskforce called for classroom lessons about the deadly issue to be mandatory after members agreed education was key to stopping the senseless epidemic of youth violence.

Currently, discussions in school are discretionary but, amid growing numbers of fatal stabbings around the country, calls are growing for sessions to be a key part of the PHSE syllabus.   

Ms Phillipson, who is the Shadow Education Secretary, said: “I commend the Northern Echo for raising the profile of the issue of knife crime.

“We've seen right across the region the devastating impact that knife crime has had and is having particularly for young people.”

MS Phillipson, who is from Washington is the MP for Houghton and Sunderland South and her constituency office is on Newbottle Street in Houghton-le-Spring, not far from where Jack Woodley was attacked and killed in 2021.

The death of the 18-year-old, from Newton Aycliffe, prompted the Northern Echo to launch its campaign to tackle knife crime, which led to the creation of the taskforce.

The taskforce brings together mums of murder victims, teachers, youth workers, magistrates, police, headteachers, sports clubs and other organisations to pool resources and ideas.     

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper attended a meeting in February and said the model could be 'a blueprint' for tackling the problem around the country and at a national level.

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Speaking exclusively to the Northern Echo during a visit to Corbridge Middle School on Friday, Ms Phillipson said: “I do believe that we need to look again at the curriculum overall and that's why Labour has a commitment to a review.

“If we win the election and we do need to take into consideration educating young people around the dangers of knife crime as a part of that, specifically with reference to the PSHE curriculum.

“This is long overdue and it needs to keep pace with the challenges that young people are facing so that they're well prepared for the world, and the challenges they facing at the moment are around violence and knife crime.

“The trends we have seen are really troubling.

“It is deeply concerning.”

Ms Phillipson said the proposed review would be ‘expert-led’ and will shape the direction of children's education ‘for years to come’.

She echoed the view that knife crime is multi-faceted problem that must be dealt with society as a whole.

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She said: “Issues such as knife crime can be a part of a reformed PSHE curriculum but I don't think what happens in schools is sufficient in tackling it.

“It has to be whole community approach and that's why the work that The Northern Echo is doing is so important, by demonstrating how it's essential that police work closely with youth workers, with schools, and with parents.

“We will have to pull together on this and that's why Labour’s plans around youth hubs are so important so we can make sure we prevent knife crime not only respond to the consequences of the terrible tragic consequences.

“We want to prevent it happening in the first place.”