Kingswood South student suspended after bringing knife to class

A girl has been suspended from a primary school in Sydney’s west after her classmates told the teacher she had a knife in her bag.

A primary school student who brought a pocket knife to class last week has been suspended in the latest episode of knife-related incidents in the state’s public schools.

Teachers at Kingswood South Public School found the knife in the girl’s schoolbag after other students found out about it and alerted them.

Nobody was hurt in the incident but the girl was suspended in line with the Department of Education policy on knives, a spokesman said.

“Last week, Kingswood South Public School students told a teacher another student had a knife in her bag,” he said.

“The teacher determined there was a pocket knife in the student’s bag. The student did not take the knife out of her bag and threaten others. No one was injured during this ­incident.”

Pictured is the outside of Kingswood South Public School at Kingswood in Western Sydney. Picture: Richard Dobson

The incident comes after a 14-year-old Glenwood High School boy allegedly stabbed a 16-year-old classmate earlier this month.

The knife used in that alleged attack was permitted under Department of Education policy at the time because the student was a baptised Sikh and adherents must carry a kirpan — a small dagger about 8cm in length — on their person at all times.

Those knives have temporarily been banned from public schools.

As previously revealed by The Daily Telegraph, the number of violent incidents involving weapons almost quadrupled between 2018 and 2019 — the latest year for which data is recorded.

Even knives for religious purposes have now been banned from the school.

Cases of students bringing weapons like knives skyrocketed from just 123 incidents in 2018 to 412 the following year.

Those incidents include students who brought knives to school to cut up their lunch but also includes cases where students threatened their classmates with the knife.

Suspension data for the 2020 school year shows there were 119 long suspensions issued to Kindergarten children.

Long suspensions are issued to children who continually misbehave or those who inflict physical injury, bring a knife to school, possess drugs, commit a serious crime or use a classroom implement as a weapon.

Child psychologist Michael Carr Gregg said schools had a legal responsibility to make sure students did not bring knives to school.

“Many of these kids have grown up with a diet of violence as entertainment and there tends to be a view that violence is a conflict resolution device.

“My question would be do the parents know what is going on with these kids?”