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Top school uses a ‘weapon’ detector...
Jennifer Williams23/ 1/2008
ONE of Stockport’s top schools has revealed it has used a metal detector to check pupils for weapons, while education bosses confirm a number of schools across the borough have used hand-held detectors in the fight against crime.
The news comes as the Government announces plans to install airport-style walk-through metal detectors at the gates of the country’s roughest secondaries, after a spate of high-profile knifings.
Bramhall High, the borough’s best-performing comprehensive, has a device in school to check pupils for knives and other dangerous items.
But headteacher John Peckham insists the device is mostly used for preventing mobile phone use in exams, and says a walk-through detector would not be practical.
He said: "Our front line of defence is that the majority of students would tell us and have the trust and confidence in us to know that we are trying to keep them safe.
"By and large that is sufficient. I do have a metal detector in my drawer just in case - and I’ve used it only once in three and a half years.
"We’re not screening people - if we had people walking through an arch like in an airport it would be a pain in the neck to be quite honest.
"Mostly we have it as a deterrant to prevent pupils bringing mobiles into exams."
Several other secondaries said they had occasional problems with knives but didn’t see the need for a metal detector.
Ian Roberts, governor at Kingsway in Cheadle, added: "I wouldn’t have thought it’s something that’s likely. If there’s a serious problem the police will be brought in."
But according to one local councillor, the new legislation would also strengthen school powers to search bags and pockets.
Councillor Colin Foster, who sits on Stockport Council’s children and young people’s scrutiny committee, said: "If you look behind the headlines there are a wider range of powers coming in behind this.
"It makes it clear teachers and schools have the right to inspect bags.
"As well as metal detectors the school has equally got rights to ask kids to open their bags and tell them what they have put in there - and to me that’s the important thing."
A Council spokesman added: "A few schools in Stockport do have handheld detectors, which have been used occasionally.
"However, they are not used on a daily basis and will only be used when acting on credible reports from staff and pupils.
"Incidents of pupils trying to bring dangerous weapons into schools in Stockport are extremely rare."
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23/01/2008 at 18:48
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