Teachers to be given sweeping powers to stop and search pupils

School pupils suspected of carrying knives are to be frisked or sent though airport-style scanners, The Independent on Sunday has learnt.

Headteachers report an escalating knife culture in Britain's schools in which fearful pupils increasingly carry blades for self-protection. Fatal stabbings such as that of 15-year-old Kiyan Prince, who bled to death at the gates of London secondary school last month, graphically illustrate the need for action, they say.

Alan Johnson, Secretary of State for Education, is drawing up guidance for schools on how to use new search powers which will be introduced later this year.

Headteachers will be instructed on what training and equipment staff will need to carry out the searches. Mr Johnson will also define when staff can carry out searches and what records are kept of those caught carrying blades.

A senior official from the Department for Education and Skills said: "We need to consider what help schools are going to need to make best use of the search powers. He's looking at airport-style frisking and scanners."

Officials stressed that the powers were voluntary and schools and others would be consulted before guidance on search procedures was issued.

Although the initiative is welcomed by teachers' professional bodies, some senior legal figures are concerned about the new stop-and-search measures.

"Taking a knife from a 14-year-old can be an extremely dangerous thing to attempt to do," said Lord Thomas QC, the Liberal Democrat spokesman on legal affairs.

The peer, who was a defence counsel in the case of murdered headteacher Philip Lawrence, wants extra protection for teachers and pupils during searches.

John Dunford, general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association, said: "I don't have any doubt that heads wanting to make use of this power will want to seek the help and advice of local police in how to conduct searches properly."

Strip-searching will be forbidden, while teachers carrying out the searches must be accompanied by at least one other member of staff of the same sex as the pupil. Only students that staff have reasonable grounds of believing are carrying weapons can be frisked ruling out the routine scanning seen in some US schools.

The proposed measure is contained in the Violent Crime Reduction Bill about to complete its final stages in Parliament.

Home Office ministers are considering whether to increase penalties for people carrying knives with no good reason from two to four years. Now, only weapons which serve no peaceful purpose, such as flick-knives and butterfly knives attract a four-year sentence.

A 10-week knife amnesty which began last month has so far netted nearly 18,000 weapons, according to figures released by the Home Office. Items handed in have included machetes, meat cleavers, axes and an anti-tank rocket launcher.

The Association of Chief Police Officers has been involved in the operation, where weapons can be handed in without fear of arrest, and members say they are pleased by the results so far.

However, campaign groups say that this represents the "tip of the iceberg" and that tougher measures are needed.

Crimestoppers says that knife crimeis a serious problem in many urban areas. "In many areas knives have become an alternative to carrying a gun because knives are generally easier to access," said a spokesperson.

The Youth Justice Board, set up to tackle youth offending, say that more than half of all children excluded from school carry weapons including knives.

WEAPONS' TOLL

236 homicides due to "sharp instruments" in 2005

4,974 people treated by the NHS for wounds caused by knives or other bladed weapons in 2005

60,000 children aged 11 to 16 carrying knives in 2004, according to British Crime Survey estimate

100 violent incidents involving knives every day in England and Wales

2 years maximum jail term for carrying a knife

17,715 weapons surrendered in the first week of the national knives amnesty this month