Police quiz child over baguette attack

4:57pm Tuesday 12th February 2008

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A pupil has been arrested for attacking a classmate with a baguette.

The 15-year-old attacker was questioned by police after arming himself with the French stick at a secondary school.

The unusual weapon was one of 80 seized by cops from schools in Sussex over the last two years.

Knives, metal bars and a gun were also among the haul - as well as an egg, a tomato and a xylophone.

They were used in incidents which resulted in 19 school children being charged for crimes including common assault and actual bodily harm.

A 16-year-old was summonsed to appear in court after being caught with the gun and a 10-year-old was cautioned for posessing an imitation firearm.

Dozens more pupils were cautioned for using weapons ranging from blades and blunt objects to school tools including pencils, rulers and compasses as well as several more unusual items.

A 13-year-old was warned by police officers after an assault with a pillow, a 14-year-old attacked another with an egg and a tomato and a 15-year-old was cautioned for common assault using a baguette.

One incident involved a 13-year-old armed with a piano stool and a xylophone.

Sussex Police, which released the figures following a freedom of information act request, said despite the numbers there was not an issue around weapons in the county's schools.

A force spokesman said: "Schools in Sussex are amoung the safest in the country. We have a long established programme of working closely with schools to prevent problems." He said a recent rearrangement meant there were now 21 Neighbourhood Schools Officers who went into classes to deliver lessons about safety issues, covering the dangers of weapons as well as drugs and internet threats.

He added that 17 police officers or community support officers have been appointed as Safer Schools Partnership Officers, who make high visibility patrols at schools as a preventative measure.

The spokesman suggested the presence of police was one reason why so many incidents were being dealt with.

He said: "Some of these might not have been picked up in previous years."

The figures covered all of 2006 and 2007. The force said it was unable to provide details of which schools related to each incident.

The details have come out shortly after the government begun a drive against weapons at schools. It has recommended that airport style metal detectors could be used at some of the worst problem areas and has mounted a poster campaign.

Headteachers in Sussex said concerns had not reached that level in the county.

Tim Barclay, headteacher at Hove Park School in Nevill Road, Hove, said: "All schools will have a policy in place for the confiscation of items considered to be offensive but we rarely have to use it. There is not a particular problem at our school and I don't think there is in the area. It would not be necessary to bring in the types of controls which have been spoken about." Trevor Allen, headteacher at Dorothy Stringer School in Loder Road, Brighton, said: "I can't remember the last time we had any issue with weapons. There certainly haven't been any with baguettes. You would have thought they would have to be three days old before they'd be any use as a weapon." In Sussex in 2006 there were 55 weapons seized at schools and in 2007 there were 28. Five years earlier in 2002, by comparison, there were 39.

West Sussex County Council said it advised schools to follow national safety guidelines. East Sussex County Council said it worked with schools to develop a pupil behaviour policy.

A spokesman said: "We would expect every school in East Sussex to have a zero tolerance approach to knives and such weapons." Brighton and Hove City Council declined to comment.

The full list of weapons seized from Sussex schools in 2006/7 2006: Books, a ruler, an extendable baton, a day planner, piece of wood, eight knives or daggers, broken bottles, apple, metal bar, pen, a piece of plastic, three BB guns, a pencil, a pillow, two stones, an egg and tomato, a pencil sharpener blade, a baguette, a pen, a bag, a hammer, a coat, sticks, three air rifles, a gun, a piano stool and a xylophone.

2007: An ice ball, knuckle-dusters, mobile phone, metal bar, pencil, pool ball, drumstick, remote control, book, apple, compass, table, pen, three knives or daggers, a steel toe-capped boot, two stones, a bottle, a cigarette lighter, badminton racket, a rock and a traffic cone.