Pencil sharpeners banned after attack

December 09, 2004

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WEAPON: A pencil sharpener blade

PENCIL sharpeners have been banned from a primary school after a pupil dismantled one and used the blade to slash another child's neck.

The victim was attacked in the playground at Waterloo Primary School in Ashton under Lyne.

He was taken to Tameside Hospital where he had butterfly stitches placed on the wound.

The attacker was suspended for two days and is now back in school.

Police, who were notified two days later, have spoken to the young attacker and his parents.

Headteacher David Willis has now banned all pencil sharpeners.

But the decision to allow the boy to return to school has angered parents. Some have signed a petition calling on the school to permanently expel the youngster.

One parent, who did not wish to be named, said: "Are our children safe when we send them through those gates every morning? The lad purposely took the blade out of the sharpener. In my eyes that is a pre-meditated attack.

Appropriate

"My children know the difference between right and wrong. To suspend that boy for just two days is no punishment at all."

Tracy Buckley, the school's head of governors, has written to all parents, saying the school understood the gravity of the incident and acted accordingly.

The letter states: "The school, like every other school, has a duty to promote `inclusion' of all pupils. The emphasis of the (DfES) guidance is that a permanent exclusion is discouraged and to be considered as a last resort in very extreme circumstances. A fixed period exclusion was entirely appropriate for the circumstances."

A spokeswoman for Tameside council said it supported the action taken by the school, which she said was appropriate.

"The school took the incident very seriously and the governors, headteacher and staff are committed to providing a safe and secure environment for all pupils."

The attack is highlighted just over a week after 15-year-old David Sandham died following an altercation at Broadoak High School in Partington, Trafford.

Yesterday, the Manchester Evening News reported how teachers at Priestnall High School in Stockport started acting as bodyguards, patrolling streets round their school, following attacks on five pupils.

Was a two-day suspension an appropriate punishment for the pupil? Have your say.

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Dave, Harpurhey (09/12/2004 at 10:55)

Surely the correct question is "Is the school right to ban pencil sharpeners" to which the answer has to be "No!". I was routinely assaulted by a teacher in primary school with a ruler. No one banned rulers. The world is going ever-so slightly madder each and every day.

sue wright, Stockport (09/12/2004 at 11:56)

I think the kid needs psychiatric help, this WAS premeditated he knew what he was doing he tried to seriously if not kill this other child whats wrong with the school cant they see that he's a bit wacko, nobody with a right mind does things like that, when i was that age (14 years ago) kids my age were frightened of punching in the face due to the punishment that you would get from both teachers and parents, now its seems its ok to get away with murder, i certainly wouldn't allow my children to go to this school with a nutter like that roaming round and no support from the school, parents will have to give their children weopens in the mornings just to protect themselves from other kids.....>:op

jonathan, Cheshire (09/12/2004 at 13:12)

I despair

Ban the pencil sharpener but allow the pupil to go back to school. What if he stabs another child with a pencil, ban pencils and let him come back again?

There will only be chalk left soon.

Anon, USA (09/12/2004 at 13:47)

So pencil sharpeners are banned, but the kid who used one to attack another student is still in school?

How will this solve anything? The kid will just find another weapon. The pencil sharpener isn't the problem, the child/criminal is.

John Hobson, Sweden (09/12/2004 at 14:13)

What is the idiot that made this decision going to ban next? But a two day ban for a pre meditated slash, Now that's what I call justice!!!!!!!

parent, ashton (09/12/2004 at 17:15)

how can letting this student remain at the school be allowed, and how can the local council support the actions of the school? are they just hoping that no one will find out?

Anon, Tameside (09/12/2004 at 17:46)

This is completely stupid and shocking. I and my friends use pencil sharpeners which we thought were used to sharpen pencils not necks.Nobody in their right mind would use a pencil sharpener (or any other object) to attack or injure another person. The pupil should have been banned not the pencil sharpeners!

'Arry, Arbroath (09/12/2004 at 20:02)

In my day we trapped heads in the classroom door or stuck them down the bog and washed them with the flush. Are they going to ban classroom doors and bogs? We should get out of our airy fairy political correctness and deal with this criminal lout in a proper manner. He should not want to be punished a second time. Failing that, the other pupils should form a circle around him and silently point fingers at him until he breaks down.

who cares, manchester (10/12/2004 at 02:30)

Seems to me this kid is startin early, By 16 will he be doin armed robberies? quite possibly! all comes down to discipline, In the other story i was readin.... Mind you the youth of today needs a firm kick in the a*** i am only 25 an would never have done anything like that as i would have gotten proper discipline... seems the youth of today think they own this country an somethin needs doin

rob, Greenwich (10/12/2004 at 20:04)

It seems monstrous that the young hooligan is returned to school with just a two-day suspension, and that pencil sharpeners are banned! Writers like Orwell and Anthony Burgess couldn't make this stuff up. The authorities who make such decisions are barking mad and ought to be sacked

Jinx McHue, USA (10/12/2004 at 23:05)

So what happens if one student attacks another by using a pencil as a stabbing weapon? Ban pencils (and all other writing implements)? I got into an eraser-throwing fight with friends in my younger days and accidentally hurt one of them. I guess the school officials would have had to ban erasers from the school because of that if "zero tolerance" had existed back then (about 15-20 years ago).

Stan Parry, Peterborough,Ontario,Canada. (11/12/2004 at 05:28)

I find it so hard to believe about sentences handed out to delinquents in the U.K..Your judicial system stinks to high heaven!I left Manchester back in 1967 to settle in Canada,and I can see,as a distant observer so to speak,how the penalty handed out to these misfits of humanity is so light. It's a shame that the ordinary man in the street doesn't have the power to remove these idiots you call judges removed!But there again,was the voice of the man in the street ever listened to?I don't think so.

Jay, Arizona, USA (11/12/2004 at 05:38)

Everytime there's a gun murder, people yell about more gun control. They *never* yell about punishing the person more severely.

The pro-gun people say "ban guns today and there will be a kitchen knife or baseball bat murder next week".

This has gone well beyond kitchen knives and baseball bats.

There is nothing wrong with pencil sharpeners - there IS something wrong with that kid.

Josh, God Bless America (12/12/2004 at 22:40)

What are you britty-pansies gonna go ban guns now too? Hah! GOD BLESS AMERICA TOBY KEITH WOOOHOOO!

bob, nz (13/12/2004 at 02:05)

We should be asking what the vistim did to annoy the attacker so much...that is the polically correct thing to do, right?

Dav MAson, USA (13/12/2004 at 15:51)

The problem lies not with the pencil sharpener, nor even with the anti-social little future serial killer who made it a weapon. The problem lies with the policy of "inclusion" that trivializes what may have been an attempted muder of another student by allowing the perpetrator back in school at all. Mark my words, this is only the beginning for this kid for he has been taught that: 1)there are no consequences to his actions, 2) that attacking another student by trying to slash his throat a very small matter, and 3) nothing happens when he attacks another, other than he gets to stay home and watch TV all day.

Rooners, Houston (14/12/2004 at 04:41)

30 years ago in Uxbridge, the boys would poke the other kids with wooden rulers sharpened to a point with pencil sharpener blades. The pencil sharpener blades are clearly at fault.
The chalk idea is excellent. You can't cut anyone with chalk.

tiktak, essex (14/12/2004 at 16:33)

no sharpeners shouldnt be banned, it should be the child!! he knew what he was doing as he removed the blade from the sharpener it was not just a spur of the moment thing! he should be given anger management too.

ali, Ithaca, NY, USA (14/12/2004 at 18:39)

To me, any attack of another student with a weapon deserves much more than a two-day suspension. Whether the attacker should be expelled depends on what the intent looks like... was he aiming for the neck, and was his intent to cut the skin or to slit the throat? Did he mean to cut the arm and in a struggle, hit the neck by mistake? If he intended for the attack to be less potentially deadly than it was, his suspension should be on the order of a year. If he intended to kill or maim, they should never let the psycho back in a public school again. I'm sure there are reform schools out there that can take care of him just fine, but kids shouldn't have to be afraid of being gashed with blades while taking in their daily lessons.

Peter Cunningham, Papua New Guinea (15/12/2004 at 07:22)

AMAZING.
The once proud and strong Britian that gave Australia it's heritage, is rapidly dissolving.

First it was demonize guns and take them from good people BUT - not the crooks.

Now - so great is the fear and the quest for the unobtainable "Safer Society", that tools such as pencil sharpeners are the target.

May I remind you poor people over in shores afar - whilstever you ignore the real causes that government and the plethor of self interested doogooders create - things will worsen exponentially.

You have granted all power and control to bureaucracies and transient politicians, then wonder why everything turns to crap.

You have taken the easy route and are now paying the price of continuing social experiments.

It is a REAL shame to see this happening, and to see the efforts of your and my forebears to gain personal and national liberty in past wars, simply squandered.

Peter Cunningham

Tom, Alexandria, VA (18/12/2004 at 06:25)

Why don't you Brits do what we do in America to our students: pump them full of Ritalin and other drugs to make them all more passive and docile. Also, don't forget to punish the slashing victim. He peobably proveked the attack. Investigate to see if he tried to defend himself in any way, and punish him for that, too.

Britain is becoming one long, sad, giant Monty Python skit where nothing makes sense.

Jayhawker, Battle Creek Michigan (20/12/2004 at 16:10)

This is a joke...right? Oh - I forgot, it's the victims fault and lets not forget ...the pencil sharpener companys is at fault for supplying the little monster with a weapon.

Scott, Indianapolis (24/12/2004 at 00:01)

You're missing the issue, we need to start "banning" the idiots that make these judgements! Things will only get worse until we get this "sensitive" and "PC" atmosphere under control.

Glennis, Manchester (28/12/2004 at 14:28)

The problem of this is not to ban pencil sharpeners but to disipline the culprit responsible for using it in an improper way.

This is what comes of the government laws which have stopped the use of disipline in shcools and do not allow parents to disipline kids in thier own homes.

The kids know that they can get away with anything and no one is allowed to stop them.

This is what the so called do gooders want.

Steve Webster, London (15/11/2005 at 14:38)

I think the decision to exlude the pupil for just 2 days was absolutely disgusting.
At the very least the child shouldve been permanently excluded from school.

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