Schools to give lessons on avoiding knife-crime

Some secondary schools are giving safety lessons to 11 to 16-year-olds on avoiding knife crime over the summer holidays, with help from Home Office teaching material.

The lessons will be taught through personal, health and social education classes and will cover how a culture of gangs, knives and violence could ruin their future, how to resist peer pressure, and also not to believe everything they see on social media.

This comes following a series of high-profile fatal stabbings involving young people, particularly in London, and knife crime increasing by 22 per cent last year in England and Wales, according to the Office for National Statistics

Crime Minister Victoria Atkins said: “The summer holidays can pose additional dangers to young people, which is why we are determined to do everything we can to keep them safe and give them the tools and resilience they need to enjoy the summer break," said Ms Atkins.”