A PRIMARY school headteacher has said a child who brought a penknife into the classroom was “dealt with extremely quickly and safely” after the parent of a pupil raised concerns.

Following a report in the Lancashire Telegraph on Monday (March 7), which showed children as young as 11 carrying sharp weapons and threatening people on a residential Baxenden street, a concerned parent of a child at Baxenden St. John’s CE Primary School raised a ‘very worrying’ classroom incident from last November.

The parent, who wished not to be named, said: “It didn’t surprise me at all to read about those kids carrying knives in the street over the weekend.

“Last November, I was very worried to learn about an incident at my daughter’s school, in the same village, where a child was found to have brought a knife into the classroom during a spot-check.

“Goodness knows how it happened, but police were called and thankfully nobody was harmed, but these kids carrying weapons are getting younger and younger.

“It’s obviously a problem in the area, whether it’s the other older kids they’re hanging around with or what, I don’t know. It’s just so dangerous and disconcerting, really.”

Julie Green, headteacher at Baxenden St. John’s CE Primary School, said: “The safety and security of our pupils is absolutely paramount which is why we have very robust procedures in place against issues such as bringing banned items into school.

“An isolated incident happened last year when a child brought a pen knife into school in their bag.

“This was dealt with extremely quickly and safely by staff and I would like to reassure parents that no-one was in any danger at the time.

“Thankfully incidents such as this are extremely rare and taken extremely seriously by the school.”

Lancashire Police are currently investigating the incident from over the weekend where youths were photographed and videoed causing damage to street signs and property with bladed articles, while harassing pensioners and threatening people in the street on Hollins Lane and Royds Avenue, Baxenden.

Martin Astley, who confronted those unruly children and was threatened by a child running at him with a knife, said he was shocked by the primary school incident from November.

He said: “I almost don’t know what to say, it’s just shocking.

“It’s the age of these kids that gets me. You can half understand it in a high school as kids get older and get on a bad path or whatever, but primary school? It’s just crazy.”