NATIONAL NEWS:- Children took weapons to school almost 300 times in 2019

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Children as young as 6 were among about 300 students disciplined for bringing a weapon to school in 2019.

Figures released under the Official Information Act showed 292 students were stood down, suspended or excluded in the year to October 10 for using or having a weapon at school.

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While that was less than the figure for 2018, which topped 300, it did not account for the full school year.

At least one 6-year-old and one 7-year-old were excluded in the first nine months of 2019. More than 20 students were excluded or expelled for using or possessing a weapon, including seven 10-year-olds.

The youngest child to be excluded in 2018 was 8.

In May, a student was excluded from Whangaroa College after allegedly being found in possession of a knife. The incident was investigated by police and the teenager was referred to Youth Aid.

There have been several other serious incidents in the past at other schools, including a stabbing incident at Pacific Christian School in south Auckland in 2014 involving two students, and a vicious knife attack on a teacher by a student at Te Puke High School in 2010.

Post-Primary Teachers’ Association president Jack Boyle said the fact there were students bringing weapons to school was “concerning”.

He said it was difficult to say whether it was a chronic or growing problem or what might be driving it, but said physical bullying and violence in New Zealand schools was a problem that was “hard to shift”.

Schools frequently had to deal with students attacking their peers or their teachers, he said.

The number of students who brought weapons to school could be even higher than the ministry figure, he pointed out.

If the school dealt with the behaviour without standing down or suspending the student, the incident would not have been captured in ministry data.

Katrina Casey from the Ministry of Education said stand-downs and suspensions were “measures of schools’ reactions to behaviours, as much as they are a measure of the behaviour themselves.

“What one school may suspend for, another may not, and our data does not capture the severity of an individual action.”

Heath McNeill, the president of the Auckland Primary Principals’ Association, said it was “pretty rare” to hear of children at primary level bringing weapons to school.

However, he said schools were reporting an increase in physically challenging behaviour, including biting, hitting and kicking.

There were growing numbers of children starting school with complex needs who struggled to self-regulate, he said.

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