Meat cleavers, metal bars and a saw were among the deadly weapons seized from schoolchildren as young as eleven, it emerged today.
Pupils were also discovered with kitchen knives, daggers, screwdrivers and wooden bars in 13 Bedfordshire schools in the last three years.
In total, five kitchen knives, three daggers, two metal bars, two meat cleavers, two penknives, one saw, a Stanley knife, a wooden bar and a screwdriver were reported to police.
Just ten of the 18 children carrying the dangerous items received cautions according to the figures released by Bedfordshire Police.
Three pupils aged between 11 and 16 were charged while officers handed out a second warning to one student and another was given a ‘community resolution’.
Two 11-year-old-boys were the youngest to be caught and three seventeen-year-olds were the oldest to be caught carrying weapons.
A Bedfordshire Police spokesman said: ”We consider it is not acceptable for any of these items to have been taken by pupils to schools or anywhere else for that matter.
”However, it must be borne in mind that these 18 items were spread across the whole county and over a three-year period.”
Although the items were found on school premises, this may have been outside of school hours and the pupil may not have attended the school where they were caught.
A spokesman for Luton Borough Council, where five of the schools involved were situated, said there were punishments for children who brought weapons to school.
He said: ”Schools behaviour policies always make provision for dealing with school incidents such as the carrying of weapons.
”Depending on the circumstances, ascertained by in-school investigation, it is likely offending pupils would be excluded for either a fixed term or permanently.
”The circumstances will also determine whether the police are involved.
”Schools in Luton deal with such incidents extremely well, always involving parents and stressing the dangers of carrying weapons to other pupils in assemblies, form groups etc.
”As a consequence, the number of incidents involving weapons – either carried or used – is extremely small.”
The incidents occurred between November 2007 and May 2010 and information was released by Bedfordshire Police under the Freedom of Information Act.
