The boss of an academies trust says she is spending around £50,000 on metal detectors for four secondary schools following a spate of horrific knife attacks – and says the government should encourage others schools to do the same.
Jo Higgins, chief executive officer at Dudley Academies Trust, warned that schools were “vulnerable” to violence without leaders taking appropriate measures.
It follows a series of serious knife offences in schools. On Monday, two boys, aged 12 and 13, were stabbed at a school in Brent in north west London, and last week a teacher was attacked at a school in Pembrokeshire.
There are no figures published by the government on attacks in schools, however Freedom of Information data reported by the BBC in October revealed there were 1,304 offences involving knives or sharp objects at schools and sixth form colleges in England and Wales in 2024.
That’s the equivalent of nearly seven per school day.
The government, which came to power with a manifesto to half knife offences in a decade, this week unveiled its latest plan to give every child caught with a knife a mandatory action plan. It followed an announcement on the opening of youth hubs to target knife crime.
But Ms Higgins, who previously taught close to the Sheffield school where 15-year-old Harvey Willgoose was murdered last year, has told The Independent ministers should go further and encourage a rollout of metal detector devices, also called knife arches, at secondary schools, following similar calls from Harvey’s mother.
She said her trust was spending around £50,000 on 10 of the devices and adapting school estates to fit them in at its four secondary schools – with two already having them in place. They operate like airport-scanners, with pupils entering through them while observed by teachers every day.
The detectors were installed after an “overwhelmingly positive” response from parents, said Ms Higgins, who said students had shared concerns over young people carrying knifes in their local communities. The equipment, she said, not only helped children feel safer while learning in class, but also helped raised awareness of risks posed by knife crime.
“It was the Harvey Willgoose incident,” she said. “It stopped us all in our tracks. Of all the schools I know in Sheffield, I would have thought perhaps a different kind of school to that one, it’s dangerous to have these misconceptions.
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“When I found out what had happened I came back into our trust offices the next day and said ‘we need to look at screens’, and I think that very same week the trust board scrutinized our plans and we consulted staff and taken student voice.”
Ms Higgins, who said there had not been a knife-related incident at the trust’s schools since it was formed in 2017, added: “We’re just recognising the reality of the world, the dangers that there are, and we want our schools to remain as really safe places.”
The metal detector devices have been supported by West Midlands Police, which said they were helping reduce knife crime in the Dudley area.
Following Monday’s knife attack at the school in Brent, for which a 13-year-old has now been charged with two counts of attempted murder, Ms Higgins said the “shocking” incident had prompted urgency to get the detectors installed at her two remaining secondary schools this February half-term.
She said: “Unfortunately it’s the last thing you want to happen [recent attacks] but it seems that this could be something that happens again and we as school leaders, we just can’t take a risk. We have to do everything possible around safeguarding in my view, and we can all sleep a little easier at night knowing we’ve done that.”
Latest government figures provided to The Independent by the Ministry of Justice showed there were 1,120 children convicted for knife possession in England and Wales in the year ending September 2025, down slightly from 1,160 the year before.
Meanwhile, latest data from NHS Digital showed the number of children admitted to hospital for assault by a sharp object in England rose by almost a quarter to 560 in 2024/25 from 461 in 2014/15.
The boss of one of the UK’s largest provider of metal detectors, Interconnective Security Products, said demand from the education sector now outstripped the police and security firms, with a record 18 metal detectors sold to schools for the month of January.
But managing director Byron Logue said schools were still acting too slowly in response to knife crime. “Schools really don’t want to talk about knife crime, too few admit to there being a problem, but we are now finding more are buying the arches.
“They want schools to feel safer. The arches provide a deterent and it gives reassurance to allow people to feel confident and safe as they learn.”
Caroline Willgoose has also said the installation of knife arches in schools could be a deterrent to crime. She said her son, who was stabbed to death at All Saints Catholic High School, had been afraid to go to school because he knew some children carried knives.
The Association of Schools and College Leaders said it supported schools over measures to protect pupils and staff from the threat of knife crime.
General secretary Pepe Di’Iasio said: “As we have seen from a number of incidents in the recent past no setting is immune from these risks and school leaders would welcome the opportunity to work with other partners – such as government, police and local authorities – to contribute to a strategic response to this issue.”
In a publication three years ago, the Department for Education said screening pupil can help provide reassurance that the “school is taking measures to create a calm, safe and supportive environment”.
A spokesperson told The Independent: “Violence affecting young people is completely unacceptable, and schools should never be left to deal with it alone. Our focus is on prevention and early intervention, working with schools, police and youth services to identify young people at risk early and support them.
“It is for individual schools to decide whether or not knife arches are necessary or appropriate for their circumstances, and we encourage headteachers to consult with police on this.
“More widely, the government is tackling knife crime by banning zombie-style knives and ninja swords, strengthening age verification for online knife sales, and rolling out schemes to prevent young people from being drawn into violent crime.”
