Teacher stabbed at Welsh school says ‘stop shifting responsibility’

Liz Hopkin told the BBC she felt the Welsh Government were ‘shifting responsibility’ by saying it would build on one council’s policy to provide school staff with handheld scanners

A teacher who was stabbed by a 13-year-old pupil has said giving staff handheld scanners is not the answer to stop violence in schools. Liz Hopkin who was attacked at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman in 2024 told the BBC 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 a weapon in school.

Mrs Hopkin said teachers “aren’t security”, while the Welsh Government said the resources were about “prevention, building on existing guidance”. It comes after a 15-year-old boy was charged with attempted murder after a teacher receive stab wounds at Milford Haven Comprehensive School in February. Always keep on top of the latest Welsh news with our newsletter

Earlier this month the Welsh Government said it would build upon a protocol already in place in Cardiff where all schools had been issued with search wands. But Mrs Hopkin told the BBC 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 told the BBC that asking a young person “in crisis” to go into a small room to be scanned could escalate the situation.

“I just feel that that responsibility for searching for knives or weapons of any type should be left to the police,” she said. “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 told the BBC 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 said.

Cardiff Council told the BBC its guidance was part of “a broader framework of support to help schools in keeping all young people and school staff safe”.

It added that searches were conducted “with the utmost care and respect” and only carried out when there was “a clear and reasonable concern that a young person may be in possession of a weapon”, while search wands were used to avoid physical contact.

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