Knife screening launched in schools
Knife arches are being introduced into every secondary school in a London council area.
Waltham Forest Council has become the first in England and Wales to introduce the arches as the scheme was launched at Lammas School and Sports College in Leyton, east London.
Teachers, students, police and councillors all welcomed the initiative and denied that the presence of the arches in schools would criminalise young people.
Chris Robbins, council member for children and young people, said: "There's no doubt that there is an issue of knife and weapon crime in London and it would be foolish to ignore that."
He said the scheme was in response to requests from youngsters who said they wanted to feel safe in schools.
He added that the initiative would tackle the serious crime as part of a larger educational programme which involved the police talking to students in schools.
Lammas School headteacher Shona Ramsay said the programme was a good idea.
"It's a preventative measure to deter our young people from carrying knives," she said. "We don't have a problem here and I want to keep it that way. We're really pressing home the message that schools are safe."
The arches will be used about once a term in each of the borough's 22 secondary schools.
Inspector Mike Hamer, head of the borough's safer schools programme, said around 12,000 pupils had been screened so far and no weapons had been found.
