Don't make us security guards, says teacher stabbed by pupil

A teacher who thought she was going to die when she was stabbed by a 13-year-old pupil in the schoolyard has said giving staff handheld scanners will not stop violence in schools.

Liz Hopkin, who was attacked at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman in 2024, said she "felt really worried" after the Welsh government announced it would offer school staff more guidance on what to do if they suspected a pupil had brought a weapon into school.

It comes as a 15-year-old boy was charged with attempted murder after a teacher was stabbed at a school in the neighbouring county.

Hopkin said teachers "aren't security", while the Welsh government said the resources were about "prevention, building on existing guidance".

Hopkin, her colleague Fiona Elias and a pupil were attacked at the school where she worked in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, by a girl who had previously been found with a knife.

The teenager, who cannot be named due to her age, was sentenced to 15 years in detention last year, after she was found guilty of attempted murder.

Earlier this month, the Welsh government said it would be building on a protocol already in place in Cardiff where all schools had been issued with search wands.

But Hopkin said there was too much emphasis on detection rather than prevention.

"By the time you've got the knife in school, you've missed so many opportunities prior to that, to stop the knife coming in in the first place," she said.

"I think it's a really good headline for the government to say they're bringing out this protocol because people will think that schools have got more powers then to deal with this, but actually you're just shifting the responsibility."

She said it potentially added "the role of security guard to teachers who are trying to build relationships with young people".

"If pupils feel that you are now police and security, you're eroding any kind of trust that they would have in you."

She added that asking a young person "in crisis" to go into a small room to be scanned could also escalate the situation.

"I just feel that that responsibility for searching for knives or weapons of any type should be left to the police.

"We already have enough responsibility with less and less resources.

"I would never, ever suggest to anybody to put themselves at risk to check. That's not your role.

"We aren't security. Stop putting the responsibility onto schools."

The Welsh government said the work was "part of a wide range of actions" it was taking on behaviour following the National Behaviour Summit and after working with the education sector.

It added that the new resources would include training, strategies and information to a provide a consistent national approach to help keep all young people and school staff safe.

"These resources are not specifically about scanners and any decisions on having scanners would be taken at a local level. There is no expectation for staff to take on security-related duties."

Following the attack at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman, a multi-agency review found the pupil would have benefited from "targeted help" if "information had been fully shared and assessed".

Hopkin, who has said she will never return to teaching, said: "You kind of move a little bit forward, but it's not an experience that you get over."

Most children carrying knives are doing so because of fear, with only a very few intent on hurting others, she said, adding that extreme incidents were born of more low-level disruption in classrooms, with exposure to social media content an aggravating factor.

"It's about earlier intervention. It's about putting much more money, funding and resources into early help."

She said people tended to think of knife crime as "something that happens in gangs and county lines", but the incident that happened to her in Dyffryn Aman shows it is happening "in rural areas across Wales, where people feel that they will be safe from this type of incident".

"It has to be stopped and it's not a case of stopping pupils coming in with weapons - yes that is part of it, but it's addressing the whole issue of what's going on in Welsh society in schools and in communities."

Hopkin said budgetary pressures on schools and other services were "a massive issue".

"We're not getting the financial support within schools, within external agencies such as youth services, mental health services, all of those supportive services... all of that is being eroded."

The Welsh government said it was working with a range of services to tackle the societal factors that influence behaviour in schools.

"We recently confirmed collaboration with the four Police and Crime Commissioners and their police forces to strengthen partnerships between police, local authorities, and schools," a spokesperson added.

Cardiff Council said its guidance was part of "a broader framework of support to help schools in keeping all young people and school staff safe".

It said searches were only carried out when there was "a clear and reasonable concern that a young person may be in possession of a weapon" and conducted "with the utmost care and respect".

Search wands were used to avoid physical contact, it said, adding "they and the guidance do not replace law enforcement in an emergency".

"This approach is trauma-informed, legally compliant and consistent across all Cardiff schools."

Its guidance also covers preventative strategies including working with parents, carers and the community, as well as educating young people about the dangers of weapons, the spokesperson said.