Weapons in Schools

Freedom of Information (FOI) Act request ref: 01/FOI/26/010144/I

Version Date: 15/07/2026

The Performance & Analysis Department has provided the following information:

 Caveats/Limitations                      

No crimes/Cancelled Crimes Excluded              

Restricted Crimes Excluded                     

Offence Descriptions absent from the data indicates no results for that search.                 

The Principal crime rule dictates the crime type recorded. This is determined by the Home Office Counting Rules. This means that whilst we have limited the data to offences relating to weapons on school premises, there may be other crimes in which a these offences occurred.             

1. Please provide the number of offences recorded by your force under each of the following CJS offence codes, for each of the last three financial years (2023/24), (2024/25) and (2025/26):
   
   CJ88151 – Possess offensive weapon on school/further education premises
   CJ88152 – Possess article with blade/sharply pointed article on school/further education premises
   CJ88155 – Threaten a person with a blade/sharply pointed article on school premises
   CJ88155B – Aid/abet a person to threaten with a blade/sharply pointed article on school/further education premises
   CJ88156 – Threaten a person with an offensive weapon on school premises
   CJ88156B – Aid/abet a person to threaten with an offensive weapon on school/further education premises
   
   
   2. For the 2025/26 time period, please also provide a breakdown of the type of weapon or article involved in each recorded offence (for example, kitchen knife, lock knife, machete, replica firearm, or other specified item), to the extent this is held in a structured or readily retrievable format.
   
   Clarification: I am now aware that using Home Office offence codes may assist so I’d like to amend the question so that instead of the CJS codes in the question below they are all replaced with the following HO Codes:
   
   HO code 008/27 – Having an article with a blade or point on school/further education premises
   HO code 008/28 – Possession of other offensive weapon on school/further education premises
   HO code 008/62 – Threaten with a blade or sharply pointed article on school/further education premises
   HO code 008/63 – Threaten with an offensive weapon on school/further education premises
   
   Please note I am still asking for a three year breakdown and also in Q.2 I am seeking details about what these weapons might have been in the most recent year.