With over 40,000 signatures so far, two mothers have launched a petition for airport style security in schools across the UK.

Eileen Roche and Rebecca Phillips have started the campaign in response to the fatal stabbing of Harvey Willgoose on February 3 at All Saints Catholic High School.

Aiming to reach 100,000 signatures and take the matter before parliament, the petition calls for mandatory bag checks and bag scanners and the installation of metal detectors to keep weapons from entering schools.

The campaign pushes for greater transparency and immediate action from schools, requiring schools to inform parents of violent or weapon-related incidents promptly, and stricter policies on students caught with weapons so that they do not return without the necessary intervention.

Ms Roche said: “My son was in detention that day and thank god they were in detention, and he didn’t see anything. But there’s kids who have seen that young lad get stabbed, you know, they’d be traumatized for the rest of their life.”

The petition has seen many comments from those who have signed.

Eve said: “Earlier preventions need to be put in place to make a change.”

Wendy, from Rotherham, said: “Scanners could save lives of so many children and teachers. Parents, families should not have to lose loved ones in a place setting that should be safe.”

Laura, from West Yorkshire, said: “Our children need protecting and the fact that metal detectors haven’t been introduced to schools yet is mind blowing!”

Knife arches, or metal detectors, aren’t widely used in schools and small sample sizes mean that there is little evidence to indicate how effective they are at preventing knife crime.

However, Boyce Logue, Director of RISK Metal Detectors said: “Schools have doubled the amount of imports from us in the last year. Schools are now tied, I think they’re probably going to surpass the police pretty quickly in terms of who our largest customer is.”

Mr Logue indicated that knife arches can successfully prevent knife possession in nightclubs by 60-80%.

They work through different levels of sensitivity which sets off an alarm when metal is detected. 

He added: “What a lot of schools do is they go for a portable knife arch which you can build and unbuild in five minutes, and they will put it up at random times.”

Walk-through metal detectors can be expensive, generally ranging from £2000 for a portable option and higher end detectors up to £8000. 

Ms Roche raised that: “The only resistance is funding, but it’s also the school’s choice if they want to put it [a metal detector] up or not. So it’s left on the schools shoulders to decide, whereas I think it needs to be a mandatory thing.”

Visit the Urgent Action to Combat Knife Crime in UK Schools petition at: https://www.change.org/p/stop-knife-crime-in-our-schools-security-is-needed?source_location=search