School knife incidents to be discussed

THE reporting of serious incidents at schools within the region – including Lockerbie Academy – is set to be a hot topic at today's reconvened full council meeting. Serious questions have been asked about why parents were not notified about a knife incident at Lockerbie’s secondary school which occurred in October. Police Scotland at the time confirmed that a male youth had been charged with carrying an offensive weapon. This has been coupled with another blade incident at Stranraer Academy and how Annan Academy had to be locked down due to an unknown woman walking inside the school. The issue at Lockerbie was brought to light by Annandale North councillor Carolyne Wilson. She was furious to find out about the terrifying incident second hand at a community council meeting – over a month after the episode. Councillors will debate the issue at next week’s Dumfries and Galloway full council gathering, which is taking place after December’s marathon meeting was cut short. Despite discussing local issues for nearly eight hours last month, elected members only managed to get through half of their busy agenda. That meant that a review of serious incidents at school was punted on until January, and will now be picked up at the rescheduled meeting today. Cllr Wilson tabled a motion on the issue as she was concerned around the process for reporting serious incidents at schools – particularly involving dangerous weapons. The Labour Group leader demanded better communication from Dumfries and Galloway Council in response to major incidents at schools. Councillor Wilson said: “There was an incident at the school in October, but we only found out about this at the community council meeting on November 21 in a police report. “There had been a school parent council meeting, and nothingwas mentioned about this incident at that meeting. “There was no lockdown of the school when this incident occurred, and I think there should have been. “I’m now seeking clarity on the council’s policy around such serious incidents.” The motion, which has been seconded by North West Dumfries Councillor Paula Stevenson, reads: “Serious incidents in schools are on the rise. “A recent incident in one of our secondary schools involving a knife, which made the front page of the local paper but was not communicated to parents or ward members caused unnecessary distress and concern within the school community. “Council agrees that a report should come forward to the next education, skills and community wellbeing committee detailing the policy, process and protocol that is in place should serious incidents occur in schools or a draft version for agreement if there is not one already in place.” Education chiefs have responded in a council report, which is due to be tabled at the meeting. Jim Brown, the council’s chief education officer, wrote: “In relation to a recent incident referenced within the notice of motion, the incident was managed by the head teacher and the duty officer in-line with the existing guidance set out within the school incident reporting form. “In-line with the request from the notice of motion, if it is agreed, a report will be brought to the next education, skills and community wellbeing committee in February 2026 detailing the policy.”