EXCLUSIVE: Cults Academy pupil speaks on response to fatal stabbing of Bailey Gwynne

He says teachers haven't changed their approach on weapons in school

Published 11th Oct 2016

We're hearing exclusively from a pupil of Cults Academy in Aberdeen about the response to the fatal stabbing of Bailey Gwynne.

The boy - who we can't name for legal reasons - says teachers haven't changed their approach to try and stop weapons being brought into the school.

He says that at the moment, nothing can be done to stop it from happening.

Yesterday we were given an independent review into what happened last October and why.

Andrew Lowe published his recommendations on how local authorities and the Scottish Government should proceed following Bailey Gwynne's death at Cults Academy.

He made 12 recommendations in total about weapons in schools and how the problem should be dealt with.

WEAPONS:

  1. All parents should receive a letter from school at the beginning of S1, setting out the school rules and the expectations regarding weapons.
  1. Pupil forums and pupil councils should be encouraged to develop safe processes to enable pupils to share their knowledge of weapons with teachers.
  1. Police Scotland shall be notified of every incident of weapons possession known to a school.
  1. Every incident will be recorded by the school immediately following an allegation or an incident and notified to senior managers.
  1. Aberdeen City Council should work with Police Scotland to establish a "clear and effective" policy on management of offensive weapons in school.
  1. Under current law, any searches must be made with a pupil's consent. Where no consent is given, the police should be notified if there are grounds to suggest a young person is carrying a weapon.
  1. A search and confiscation protocol should be developed by Aberdeen City Council as part of their weapons/knife crime strategy.
  1. Individual risk assessments should be completed on all individuals known or suspected to carry offensive weapons.
  1. Aberdeen City Council must work with police to develop and deliver training for P7, S1 and S5 pupils to support the knife crime strategy.
  1. Aberdeen City Council should work with the Ben Kinsella Trust to develop teaching resources and lesson plans.
  1. The Scottish Government "should improve the resilience of schools to the threat posed by weapons and give consideration to amending the law in relation to searching pupils".
  1. The Scottish Government "should explore the further legislative controls that can be brought to bear on the purchase of weapons online".