Teachers call for school gun checks

Teachers called yesterday for airport-style security checks in schools to detect children carrying guns and knives.

The National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) said police with hand-held metal detectors should conduct searches in a random sample of schools to gauge the scale of the problem,

Chris Keates, the union's deputy general secretary, said: "I don't think there are large numbers of pupils coming to school armed in order to attack teachers. But there are increasing numbers going to school armed because of issues of bullying and relationships with their peers." She said a teacher is verbally or physically assaulted every seven minutes in British schools.