Knife Crime Awareness
There have been some tragic high-profile cases, both locally and nationally, in the news over the past few years.
We are very proud that we do not have an issue with knife crime within our school and students feel valued and safe but we also believe that prevention is better than cure and it is this proactive strategy that ensures this safe environment continues.
We believe that educating our students about the devastating impact to families that arise through social media, knife crime and gangs gives them the knowledge to recognise and avoid these problems. We were delighted to invite local anti-knife campaigner, Alison Cope, to the academy. Alison who tragically lost her son, Joshua Ribera, kindly came along to deliver various age-appropriate assemblies to our students.
Our KS3 pupils attended an assembly about knife crime and keeping safe, also as part of our KS4 information evening, Alison delivered a presentation to KS4 parents, supporting them on how to keep their children safe.
Due to the positive reception Alison received from staff and students she later then returned with a BBC film crew to deliver a more hard-hitting presentation to our Year 10 students with a video that has been created of her son, who was murdered in a stabbing in Selly Oak in 2013. We are the first Birmingham school to receive this presentation which discussed the futility of knife crime and a very moving delivery on the impact it has on family members and this and post interviews of the reaction of our students will be aired on The One Show.
We will do our utmost to keep our students safe in and out of school and continue working alongside youth and community groups, police and street doctors to do our best that none of our community has to go through the pain and trauma that Alison and her family have.
Julian Jordan
Head of Key Stage 4
