Children as young as four suspended as pupils smuggle knives and BB guns into lessons

Pupils as young as four are among increasing thousands of youngsters being suspended from school for weapons incidents.

Some cases relate to children weaponising school items such as scissors and dinner knives.

But there are also more serious examples where students smuggle in Stanley knives, BB guns and even stunguns to school to threaten or attack classmates and teachers.

Councils have also revealed cases where children have used aerosol cans and lighters as makeshift flamethrowers, or where school equipment such as staple guns and hockey sticks are turned into makeshift weapons by violent pupils.

Christopher McGovern, of the Campaign for Real Education, said: "Some schools resemble war zones and are having to resort to airport security scanning as pupils arrive in the morning.

"It's small wonder so many teachers are leaving the profession. It is only a matter of time before we have another fatality."

In the school year ending in 2023 there were 686 pupils expelled and another 14,289 suspended from school after getting into trouble with weapons, Department for Education figures show.

It was a big rise on the year before when there were 541 weapon-related expulsions and 7,763 suspensions.

The year group most often in trouble for such incidents was Year 9, where children turn 14 - but there were 20 cases relating to reception class where children can be as young as four.

The issue of knives in schools came to prominence in 1995 when headmaster Philip Lawrence, 48, was stabbed to death outside St George's School, in Maida Vale, north-west London, as he helped a boy who was being attacked.

A Government spokesman said: "We will drive standards and tackle the root causes of poor behaviour, including by investing over £50million to fund specialist support in schools in the areas where serious violence most impacts children."