UK Government Launches £1.2M School Safety Partnership to Tackle Knife Crime Hotspots
Schools in high knife crime hotspots to get targeted support to divert children away from crime. Up to 250 schools in high knife crime hotspots will receive specialist training and support to divert children from serious violence. The government will launch the âSafety In & Around Schools Partnershipâ to invest £1.2 million to support schools in areas of high knife crime and improve pupilsâ safety on their way to and from school. The partnership will train school leaders on knife crime risk and support schools to develop local solutions to improve pupil safety, which could include mentoring support for high-risk pupils and deploying chaperones on school routes. Schools will be selected using innovative hyperlocal mapping which will identify areas where knife crime is at its highest during school commuting hours. This new national mapping technology, developed by the Home Office, can identify the highest knife crime hotspots down to a precision of 0.1 square kilometres. Using micro-geography, the police can pinpoint the specific streets and times when knife crime occurs. More intensive and tailored support will be provided to up to 50 of these schools in areas with the highest rates of knife crime to increase schoolsâ ability to understand the local drivers of violence and take steps to prevent children from getting involved. This includes increased access to local support services, as well as ensuring vulnerable children have a trusted adult they can turn to and develop essential social and emotional skills that can keep them safe. Children and their experiences will be at the heart of this work; informing schoolsâ understanding of the times and places where children feel safe, including in and around their schools. This comes as earlier this week the government launched its plan to halve knife crime within a decade. Titled âProtecting Lives, Building Hopeâ, it will save lives, transform the futures of young people and protect communities across the country. To tackle knife crime, the government will support young people so they get the best start in life, stop those at risk from turning to knife crime and police our streets to catch and punish perpetrators. No child should fear walking to school. That is why we must prevent violence from ever occurring. With the right support, the right opportunities and the right interventions in the right places, we can prevent harm long before a young person finds themselves in danger. This government will halve knife crime within a decade, saving lives and protecting communities. We know that targeted prevention makes a real difference - reaching young people before violence does, giving them trusted adults to turn to and the support they need to choose a different path. This funding will help schools do exactly that: protect children and build the safer streets every community deserves. I am determined that this government will be the one that finally turns the tide on knife crime, through the kind of sustained, coordinated action that gives the next generation a genuine chance. Schools do incredible work keeping children safe every day, and this new partnership will make sure they have even more tools and expertise at their disposal, giving children the best possible chance to achieve and thrive. It sits alongside a huge range of work to tackle issues early - including opening a best start family hub in every area, rolling out 93 expert behaviour hubs across the country, and bringing forward the Childrenâs Wellbeing and Schools Bill, the most ambitious piece of child protection and safeguarding legislation in a generation.
