Truly shocking - Boy, 15, dies after stabbing this lunchtime at a school in Sheffield.

I went to a very sedate private school for girls. Lovely area. All jolly nice.

Over the years I've come to realise that private school pupils were far more likely to have dabbled.

I only realised this in adult life, when mixing with folk from all backgrounds, that those who were at the local comprehensive were far better behaved than we were.

If people want to pretend that middle class town/village schools arent safer than the inner city deprived areas that is up to them. I wont be joining in with the pretence.

Galaxy

Barleyfields child was of course safer in a middle class town than in an inner city school in a deprived area. Pretending otherwise is letting those children down.

My friend decided to send her child to the most expensive school in our city as she felt she'd be safer. She later said to me what a fool she was as drugs were rife. As she said who is more likely to have the money the dealers wanted? Poor kid at the local comp or posh girls at expensive school.

Very true, Skydancer. Social Media is up there as one of the main causes.

eazybee

Lack of sanctions, lack of punishment; endless excuses and blaming everyone other than the perpetrator.
Complete lack of respect for authority.
Children unsupervised during covid, when most adults were off work or working from home?

This plus social media.

Shinamae

Back in the day stabbing of this sort would’ve been headline news for days,unfortunately now it’s hardly even news..
The government really does need to do something. I’m not sure what but they need to get their heads together and come up with something to stop this epidemic of knife crime…

The stabbing by a girl at my school didn't get a mention in any papers not even the local rag.

Just to a add I went to a rather nice grammar school in the 60s. A girl in the year below me stabbed a boy from the boys grammar on the bus one day. Fortunately he didn't die but I think that was luck not judgement.

Barleyfields

You seem to have some sympathy for the killer FGT. I couldn’t give a damn whether he’s ‘terrified, sobbing his eyes out’. And whether I have sympathy for his parents depends on how he acquired the knife and how much they knew.

I’m no longer shocked either, tanith. Scarcely a day passes without such a killing. I have no idea what the answer is but I question the culture and family lives of those involved and their educational record. I’m thankful that my child grew up, went to school and socialised in a white middle class market town. Gangs were unknown, and drugs weren’t in circulation. Nowadays it’s every parent’s nightmare unless, perhaps, they are very well off and their children attend an expensive boarding school where they might be exposed to drugs and alcohol, but not gang warfare and stabbings.

We don't know the background. The 14 year old might be a violent thug or he might be a quiet child who has been bullied mercilessly and carrying a knife due to fear. I wouldn't judge without the facts and a jury will be the people able to do that.

Allira

Galaxy

Barleyfields child was of course safer in a middle class town than in an inner city school in a deprived area. Pretending otherwise is letting those children down.

But to think there were no drugs around because it was a nice middle-class area in a small market town is wrong.

The children were perhaps safer but nowhere was immune from the scourge of drugs and violence.

Thinking otherwise means being completely oblivious to the reality.

Saying that drugs weren’t in circulation is not saying that there were no drugs around. Of course there would have been. But not within my child’s small social circle 40 years ago. I am not ‘oblivious to the reality’. I grew up in a very smart town where there was a thriving drugs scene in the 60s. I’m not a fool.

Back in the day stabbing of this sort would’ve been headline news for days,unfortunately now it’s hardly even news..
The government really does need to do something. I’m not sure what but they need to get their heads together and come up with something to stop this epidemic of knife crime…

I cannot imagine their pain tonight. I’d be howling with grief.

So very very sad . I Also feel for both families x

FriedGreenTomatoes2

Yes I admit to feeling bereft for both families tonight. Is this wrong of me?

Two families are devastated and broken tonight, admittedly one far far more than the other, but still. Sorry if that offends. My feelings are complicated. There are no winners in this stupidity.

I too feel like this. But am conflicted. I feel anger towards the child who did this but know that this child is also lost to his/her loved ones.
What a terrible waste.

No, it doesn't offend. If his family are decent people they will be devastated too.

Yes I admit to feeling bereft for both families tonight. Is this wrong of me?

Two families are devastated and broken tonight, admittedly one far far more than the other, but still. Sorry if that offends. My feelings are complicated. There are no winners in this stupidity.

Galaxy

Barleyfields child was of course safer in a middle class town than in an inner city school in a deprived area. Pretending otherwise is letting those children down.

But to think there were no drugs around because it was a nice middle-class area in a small market town is wrong.

The children were perhaps safer but nowhere was immune from the scourge of drugs and violence.

Thinking otherwise means being completely oblivious to the reality.

I don’t know what the answer is, but I find it really depressing to turn on the news each day, and see knife crime being reported yet again. Sadly I don’t see any end to it.

I wonder how the teachers are coping with this, my husband taught for over 40 years but was glad to retire, I only taught for just over 10 years and that was enough for me.
Teachers have no authority anymore, they can't discipline kids or even talk to them about their behaviour. And kids need boundaries, they need discipline, especially if they come from a dysfunctional background. My DH coached football for years at the school as an extra curricula activity, they were nearly all the 'bad lads' but they really shone when they were on the football field and given praise for their efforts, they also accepted some discipline without running home to complain to a parent who would then storm into school making an almighty fuss. The change in them was wonderful to see.
Sadly apart from after school sports clubs there are now very few youth clubs offering kids somewhere to go, or other activities that would give them a sense of purpose.
Not all children thrive with a curriculum offering academic subjects, back in the 60s/70s there were vocational subjects which offered kids a chance to opt out of academic subjects and do something more constructive that would offer them employment after school. This could work again if more apprenticeships are offered and from an earlier age, 14 years, with an opt out from a traditional academic curriculum.
Of course more needs to be done but from the position of erstwhiles teachers I feel this is also important.

How do these children have knives in the first place? Its heartbreaking. Are there no talks in schools or by parents telling the horror of such crimes , the repercussions.. The ones that do the crime their life is finished too. I don't know how any parent carries on.

westendgirl

What about the prevalence of cocaine as an after dinner necessity in middle upper class homes. this was reported on many times.
I know of schools attended mostly by middle class children,private, where the drug pushers were waiting outside for kids going home. I suppose they thought there was money there

That’s what my kids used to tell me about the private school up the road from their comprehensive.

What about the prevalence of cocaine as an after dinner necessity in middle upper class homes. this was reported on many times.
I know of schools attended mostly by middle class children,private, where the drug pushers were waiting outside for kids going home. I suppose they thought there was money there

Barleyfields child was of course safer in a middle class town than in an inner city school in a deprived area. Pretending otherwise is letting those children down.

We need to understand why it's happening to take effective action, & I'm not sure we do, so words have their place.
Widespread knife-carrying, violent films & video games, lack of a healthy respect for authority? There's a sort of self-perpetuating cycle because this is happening all the time now & adults may tell children that carrying knives makes them more at risk, not less, but all these stabbings sort of gives them the opposite message.
I don't think that children are intrincially any different from years ago, nor families - there have always been negligent parents.

Barleyfields

You seem to have some sympathy for the killer FGT. I couldn’t give a damn whether he’s ‘terrified, sobbing his eyes out’. And whether I have sympathy for his parents depends on how he acquired the knife and how much they knew.

I’m no longer shocked either, tanith. Scarcely a day passes without such a killing. I have no idea what the answer is but I question the culture and family lives of those involved and their educational record. I’m thankful that my child grew up, went to school and socialised in a white middle class market town. Gangs were unknown, and drugs weren’t in circulation. Nowadays it’s every parent’s nightmare unless, perhaps, they are very well off and their children attend an expensive boarding school where they might be exposed to drugs and alcohol, but not gang warfare and stabbings.

I'm not sure how old your children are but drugs were definitely in circulation even in small market towns and middle class areas.

Knife crime is endemic and something has to be done to end this scourge. Drugs, too, may often play a part.

This death of a 15 year old boy is the latest horrendous chapter and actions, not words, are what is needed as a matter of urgency.
Apparently this school went into lockdown last week after there were threats of violence.

Lack of sanctions, lack of punishment; endless excuses and blaming everyone other than the perpetrator.
Complete lack of respect for authority.
Children unsupervised during covid, when most adults were off work or working from home?