Schools need a national multi-agency forum to improve safety and security, a teaching union has urged the government.
The NASUWT teaching union says this is needed to support schools to deal with the “rising threat of violence”.
The call comes the week after schools across the country were placed in lockdown after receiving threatening emails, and in the month that a 15-year-old was stabbed to death at school.
Recent government data revealed more than a quarter of secondary school leaders recorded a “weapons incident” last spring.
‘Absence of national strategy’
Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT general secretary, said that it is essential that schools are being “fully supported in dealing with the rising threat of violence”.
“It is vital that safety and security are not left to chance in the absence of a national strategy to keep all schools safe,” he added.
The Department for Education has published for schools to prepare and respond to terrorism and other major incidents.
However, Mr Roach is urging ministers to go a step further and “establish an effective national multi-agency forum on school safety and security”.
The forum will explore “how best schools can respond to increasing threats” and “examine the contribution that other agencies can make to better support efforts to keep pupils and staff safe”, Mr Roach said.
Tes understands that NASUWT has approached the DfE with the proposal and is seeking further discussions.
Former school safety working group
Mr Roach warned that recent weapons incidents on school sites showed that “schools need support to prevent and deter those who considering acts of violence”.
Earlier this month, 15-year-old Harvey Willgoose died after being stabbed at a school in Sheffield.
Also this year, a teenager was arrested for a hammer attack at a school in Nottinghamshire.
“We would want to see such a forum established with clear terms of reference agreed by the bodies involved, and which has the endorsement of ministers at the most senior level,” Mr Roach said.
Heads’ union supports the idea
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, agreed that it is a “very good idea to explore how schools could be better supported to protect the safety and security of their students and staff”.
“We look forward to hearing more detail about this proposal and the government’s response,” Mr Di’Iasio said.
The previous Labour government set up a Working Group on School Security following the stabbing of London headteacher Philip Lawrence in 1995.
It was represented by members of the Department for Education, trade unions, school leaders, police and youth justice.
Multiple reports of threats sent to schools
There have been several incidents over the past month involving threats to schools.
A man from Staffordshire was arrested earlier this month after schools in Essex and Hackney received threatening emails, forcing them into lockdown.
The same week, six schools in Stoke-on-Trent were sent threatening emails, with police arresting an 18-year-old man who was later released on bail.
And a teenager was arrested recently after a bomb threat was made to Downlands Community School in Sussex.
Messages containing threats of violence were also sent to schools in Skipton, North Yorkshire.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson told Tes that the force is aware of similar reports in other parts of the country and is “liaising with the relevant forces for those areas”.
‘Unsettling’ for schools
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, said that threats of this kind are “very unsettling and upsetting for school communities, even when they turn out to be hoaxes”.
He said that it is ”vital that schools receive the appropriate level of support” when threats do occur.
As reported by Tes, a Conservative amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill called on the government to introduce legislation requiring schools to report any use of threats or violence against staff to the police.
However, schools minister Catherine McKinnell argued the amendment was unnecessary due to existing guidance, and could add to schools’ administrative burdens.
The DfE has been contacted for comment.
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