James Brindley was aged 26 when he was fatally stabbed while he walked home alone on the 23rd June 2017.
We have been in touch with the parents of James Brindley and we would like to ask for your support to help with their most recent campaign, to get education around the prevention of knife crime on the national curriculum. We have until September to achieve 100,000 signatures, which will trigger debate in Parliament.
Currently, the Department For Education is reviewing Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) alongside experts in health, children’s development and safeguarding. The James Brindley Foundation believes that now is a perfect opportunity to introduce the prevention of knife crime into the RSHE curriculum, so schools can educate children in a programme of consequential thinking.
As things stand, any education in schools and colleges around knife crime is ad-hoc and needs to be formalised as part of the curriculum and audited by Ofsted, to ensure they are meeting agreed standards.
According to UK Youth Justice Statistics, arrests of children in knife related crime rose by 7% in the year ending March 2022, and 18% of all knife crime offences were committed by children (10-17yrs) in the same year.
70% of children admitted to hospital with knife injuries have been assaulted with the weapon they were carrying.
We have until September to achieve 100,000 signatures supporting our petition, which triggers discussion in Parliament. This is a huge task in a very short space of time, but with the support of the media and community partners, we are sure we can achieve it!
It takes 3 minutes to sign up and we believe that every signature will have a direct impact on saving lives; everyone should do it and feel proud that they have contributed to a vital step change in our children’s education and safety.
Here is the link to the petition – https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/634860
Knife crime is a shameful blight on our society and turning the tide on the epidemic is everyone’s business and everyone’s personal responsibility to bring about positive social change.
We want to live in a country where no one walks in fear of youth violence.