Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Parents to be asked to sign school ‘contract’ on knives

The policy was created in the wake of the killing of 16-year-old Bailey Gwynne.
The policy was created in the wake of the killing of 16-year-old Bailey Gwynne.

Parents of children as young as four will be told to sign letters pledging to educate their kids on the dangers of taking knives to school in Aberdeen.

The newly-enhanced “Anti-Weapon/Knife Crime Policy”, which was prepared in the wake of the killing of 16-year-old Bailey Gwynne at Cults Academy in October 2015, will be handed to councillors at next week’s Education and Children’s Services Committee meeting for approval.

One of the proposals is for parents and guardians – and potentially pupils as young as eight – to sign letters which set out the city council’s policy on knives in schools.

The letter – which has already been going out to parents of S1 pupils under a policy agreed in November – would now be included in induction packs sent out when children start Primary 1.

The policy document also details how teachers should react if they have suspicions that a pupil may be in possession of a blade or another weapon.

The move emerged in the week that the identity of Bailey’s killer, Daniel Stroud, was made public for the first time after he turned 18 and was no longer protected by legal anonymity.

Councillor Lesley Dunbar, vice convener of the Education and Children’s Services Committee, said: “The policy that we put forward comes out of the recommendations of the review into the death of Bailey Gwynne.

“We had to make a whole school approach not determined just by age.

“We want to make sure that from Primary 1 age, parents of children are assured and confident about the policy.”

She added: “It’s important that children, parents and teaching staff can all work together to ensure that knife crime in schools can be reduced. There needs to be a mechanism in place for children to report any suspicions they might have.”

Councillor Martin Greig, who also serves on the committee, said: “It’s essential that the council implements an effective knife policy.

“Children need to be educated from a young age on the dangers and consequences of carrying knives. There also needs to be a way for them to report and suspicions they have.

“The north-east may not be well-known for knife crime, but we have still experienced some shocking examples.

“This is clearly an area that needs to be treated with very great seriousness. It must be made clear that carrying and using knives is completely unacceptable.”