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Meat cleavers, bayonets and axes: The weapons seized from children as young as six at school

Hundreds of deadly weapons are being seized at schools each year from children as young as six, disturbing figures reveal.

Hundreds of deadly weapons are being seized at schools each year from children as young as six, disturbing figures reveal.

The shocking arsenal includes a meat cleaver, an axe, a bayonet and a knife found on a Year 1 primary school pupil.

Some 1,145 weapons were confiscated between 2006 and 2010 according to the results of a Freedom of Information request to Britain’s 52 police forces.

Only half responded, meaning the official figure is likely to be more than 2,200 – an average of around 440 weapons seizures each year.

Education sources said this represents ‘the thin end of the wedge’ as most blades and other dangerous items are smuggled into schools without being detected.

The figures were released in the same week that an official Government report exposed a doubling of violent incidents in schools to almost 1,000 in just a year.

It coincided with new guidance from the Department for Education about how teachers should tackle violence in the classroom.

New measures, to be introduced from September, include carrying out searches without consent and scrapping existing ‘no touch’ policies.

Nick Seaton, of the Campaign for Real Education, said: ‘Teachers are telling us on the quiet that pupils have taken control of schools.

‘For a lot of youngsters weapons and violence are becoming normal parts of their lives.

‘Teachers must be more ready to work together to tackle youngsters with weapons, exclude them from schools and call police.’

‘It shows how badly the situation has deteriorated and why something must be done about it.

‘There are solutions like knife arches or searches but the fact these things are being found shows the vast majority of teachers are aware children could be carrying weapons.

‘These serious weapons youngsters are bringing into school shows how discipline in schools is deteriorating.

‘In general I believe schools are safe but with this sort of behaviour they can be very dangerous.’

The array of weapons includes a six-year-old child caught armed with a knife by Strathclyde Police in 2009.

Police in Surrey seized a sword from a 19-year-old in 2010 and a one-foot long bayonet from a 15-year-old in 2008.

The figures also show two 10-year-olds carrying knives in Lancashire, a 13-year-old with a meat cleaver in Strathclyde in 2009 and an eight year-old with a knife in Grampian.

This week the Government issued new guidance to schools, which reveals that from September teachers can use force on disruptive children ending the 'no touch' policy.

Read more at the Mail Online website.