Harold Hill school pupil told to retrieve knife from classmate
PARENTS allege that a boy aged seven who warned that another child was brandishing a knife was told by a teaching assistant to retrieve the blade himself because she “couldn’t leave other pupils unsupervised”.
It is said the youngster from Broadford Primary School in Farringdon Avenue, Harold Hill, alerted parents after a Year Three child produced a three-inch knife in the playground on Friday.
Two parents – who have children in the same year – say they tried to convince him to surrender the blade.
“I felt the knife in my hand, it was very sharp,” said one mother, 35, “but before I could do anything the boy ran off so I went to the teacher on duty.
“She told me she wasn’t allowed to move from her post as she couldn’t leave other pupils unsupervised – so asked my son to go get the boy!
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“I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I was absolutely disgusted. I was trying to call my son back – he could have been stabbed.” She added: “What’s the point of supervising kids if when something serious does happen you can’t do anything about it?”
Another teacher finally managed to retrieve the weapon.
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One father said: “It wasn’t a butter knife or anything like that. This was a proper blade which could have done a lot of harm had it been used.”
An investigation is currently under way into the incident, but parents remain worried.
“I feel it’s unsafe for them to go back to school,” said the father. “The boy could have had a hard upbringing and taken out his frustrations on other pupils.
“The school needs to deal with this properly, which I don’t think they have.”
Executive headteacher, Lindsey Diamond, said: “We are taking this incident extremely seriously as a pen knife is totally inappropriate to bring to school. We have spoken to the parents at length to ensure they are aware of seriousness of the matter.”
