Horrors of knife crime should be taught in schools, campaigners say

Forensic teams work on the scene of a stabbing in London (Image: GETTY) Campaigners are calling for pupils to hear directly from the parents of knife victims as part of a souped-up drive in schools to end the bloodshed. They want the subject made a stand-alone part of the curriculum. The North East Knife Crime Taskforce says being made aware of the true horrors and consequences should be fitted into children’s personal development at key stages of their school lives. And it wants all headteachers to ensure relatives of victims visit their schools to share their own harrowing experiences. Zoey McGill’s 18-year-old son Jack Woodley died after he was stabbed at a community event near Sunderland in 2021. She said: ‘It is about stopping anyone from going through what 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.’ Campaigners call for knife crime education to be included in National Curriculum (Image: GETTY) Zoey, of Newton Aycliffe, Co Durham, added: ‘It is very important to have these messages in schools and for them to see the real effects.’ 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 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 their own communities is far more effective. 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. Simon said: ‘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.’ Alison Madgin, from Wallsend in Tyne and Wear, started Samantha’s Legacy after her 18-year-old daughter was stabbed to death in 2007.  She said: ‘As victims of knife crime, when we go into schools, the difference is they can hear it from our point of view and they can see we are real people and Samantha was a real person.’ Simon Smart, of the police’s Cleveland Unit for the Reduction of Violence, said: ‘The early intervention element of reducing serious violence and knife crime for the whole of the country is essential.’ A Department for Education spokesman said the Government is investing more than £50million on specialist support in schools in the areas where serious violence most impacts children. The official added: ‘Schools can tailor teaching to suit issues pupils face, including knife crime, as part of the ‘criminal exploitation’ parts of the relationships, sex and health curriculum.’