Kitchen knife brought into Potters Bar primary school

Oakmere Primary School, Potters Bar. Picture: Danny Loo (Image: Danny Loo Photography 2018)

Oakmere Primary School on Chace Avenue has excluded one of its pupils after he or she brought the blade onto school premises.

The incident was also reported to Police Community Support Officers.

Liz Haynes, head teacher at Oakmere, said: “We can confirm that we were alerted to a dangerous item being brought into school last week.”

The police confirmed today that the item was a kitchen knife, which they will be collecting from the school as enquiries continue.

A police spokesperson said: “We can confirm we have received a report of a kitchen knife being brought into a school in Potters Bar last week.

“Officers from the Safer Neighbourhood Team are carrying out enquiries and are working with the school to determine the circumstances around what happened.”

In response to rumours that the blade was used to threaten another child, the police spokesperson said that this did not form part of the report that they received.

The spokesperson added: “No pupils or staff were injured as a result of the incident.”

Miss Haynes added: “The school dealt with this quickly and efficiently and the pupil who brought in the item was immediately excluded.

“The safety and welfare of our students is of paramount importance to us and thankfully incidents such as this are rare.

“We urge parents to be extra vigilant with their children and check that what they are bringing into school is appropriate.”

Oakmere primary school is a Community School, meaning that it is managed and funded by Hertfordshire County Council.

The school’s website has a “noticeboard” and a “safeguarding” page, which at time of publication had no mention of the incident.

The site has comprehensive policy papers including behaviour policy, outlining expectations between pupils, staff and parents.

The behaviour policy states that the policy aims to “promote the overall well-being of pupils and staff and an environment in which everyone feels happy, safe and secure.”

Children’s behaviour choices are monitored on a “behaviour ladder” ranging from actions meriting “golden sunshine” right through to - in the case of exceptionally bad incidents such as violence - a “lightning bolt”.

In these cases, the parents are called for a meeting, and four lightning bolts result in a fixed term exclusion.

Oakmere Primary School was rated “good” in its last Ofsted inspection in 2017, with the report stating that “safeguarding is effective.”

The report goes on to say: “Pupils feel safe and all staff and governors are appropriately trained in ensuring that pupils are kept safe, using the latest government advice.”