Camden primary school pupil threatens another with knife
Leila Roy, who has lost her seat after four years. Picture: Polly Hancock - Credit: Archant
Camden’s problem with youth knife crime has reached a new height after it has been revealed a year 4 pupil at a Camden primary school threatened another with a pocket knife.
The apology letter the pupil sent after threatening a classmate with a knife - Credit: Archant
The incident, in January, was raised by Belsize Conservative councillor Leila Roy at a council meeting on knife crime and youth violence on Monday.
Cllr Roy read from an apology letter, written by a boy, aged eight, to a fellow pupil after he threatened to cut him with a knife which he had taken into school.
The letter said: “I am so sorry for what I did yesterday and if I was you I would feel very scared.
“I should never say that I am going to cut you, and I should not have taken the pocket knife from [teacher]’s desk in the first place.
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“I hope you feel better and a bit less scared.”
The head teacher said: “We took all the appropriate action for dealing with the incident as we would in any serious matter in the school.”
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He referred the incident to Camden Council and to the police.
The 8-year-old pupil who wrote the apology is still attending the school, he said.
Cllr Roy, Conservative spokeswoman for children and young people, who has a school aged son said: “It shows how we fail to support children in primary school.”
She also asked peer advocate, Rose Bramley to go into more schools to speak to young people.
A Camden Council spokesman said: “A threat was made but it is not clear whether the blade had been unfolded or not. The incident was reported to the council and logged on our system in the correct way and an assessment was carried out and evaluated with the appropriate agencies. The letter was written as an apology as part of ‘reparation’ for what happened.”
“Clearly there were lessons for the school, which has since reviewed its procedures, to learn from the incident but we are satisfied that the council handled it in the proper way when it was reported to us,” he added.
He confirmed no further action has been taken.
