A SCHOOL pupil was taken home by police after being spotted with a knife in a gym hall changing room, writes Bob Burgess.
It happened at Jedburgh Grammar on Monday and after police had talked with the first-year pupil and his parents the boy was allowed to return to his classes the following day.
Education chiefs have stressed that the knife was closed during the inc
ident.
A spokesperson for Scottish Borders Council told TheSouthern: "A first- year pupil was showing a new multi-purpose Swiss penknife to a fellow pupil in a changing room. No blades were open at all at any time but when the PE teacher saw this he confiscated the penknife and spoke to the pupil.
"The local police officer was called and later the police escorted the pupil home and spoke to the pupil and his parents. An undertaking was given that the penknife would not be brought back to school and the next day the pupil returned to school as normal."
The council spokesperson added: "It is against school policy to bring any type of knife into school and under the circumstances this was appropriately treated as a policy infringement."
We asked the council how many incidents there had been involving knives or similar instruments in schools over the past three years.
We were told: "We don't record incidents of knives specifically. In line with Scottish Government requirements, we record exclusions based on use of a weapon which could be anything from the inappropriate use of a ruler to a knife. In the last three years 18 pupils were excluded for use of a weapon."
The full article contains 278 words and appears in Southern Reporter newspaper.
