Machete on primary school grounds leads to intervention

Councillors from Bradford and neighbouring districts have been told that children as young as 10 are “on the periphery of serious violence, crime and gang culture” – and it is vital that these children are put on the right path before their lives spiral out of control.

Members of the West Yorkshire Fire Authority were told of the work being done by the fire service to intervene in the lives of troubled young people during a meeting of its Community Safety Committee on Friday.

They were told of the work firefighters were doing to engage with young people as part of a “spotlight” report into the non-firefighting work the service was engaged in.

This work could soon be extended to other schools in West Yorkshire.

Most recently, officers at West Yorkshire Fire Service worked with four young people in the area after a deputy head at their primary school raised concerns about their behaviour.

Members were told that concerns were rapidly escalated after a machete was found on school grounds.

The meeting heard that staff at the school feared the children would “take the wrong path” and possibly become involved in gang culture.

They wanted services to get involved while they still had chance to turn their lives around – and the fire service was the only organisation that would get involved with children that young.

In recent years there has been increased awareness of Child Criminal Exploitation – when criminals and gangs groom children to get involved in crimes such as drug dealing and robbery.

Such gangs are believed to use social media to try and entice younger children into criminality.

Children are seen as particularly vulnerable when they make the move from primary to secondary school.

A general view of fire engines

At Friday’s meeting, held in Dewsbury Town Hall, members were told the one-on-one sessions with firefighters taught children how to make “safer and more positive choices” – and rewarded them with a day at a local fire station.

The report to members said: “There was a clear need for targeted work with young people under the age of 10 who were on the periphery of serious violence, crime and gang culture.

“This need was recognised through the Serious Violence Duty guidelines and through contact with partners in the community.”

Referring to the call for support from the deputy head, the report added: “He was eager for work to be done with some of his students, but as they were under the age of 10, no other services would work with them on a 1:1 basis.

“We designed a programme to focus on choices, risk, peer pressure and consequences with the aim to prevent risky behaviour as the young people got older and moved into secondary school. 

“We aimed to create in the young people a better relationship with an emergency service.

“Looking at the behaviour of the young people following the programme, there was an improvement in the choices they were making following their interaction with us.

“There was a need for us to revisit the young people following the initial sessions due to a dip in behaviour, however since then, they have continued to make better choices.

“Giving each of them some ownership and responsibility for their futures was key.”

Area Commander Scott Donegan said: “The programme deals with young people most likely to require blue light responses in the future.

“It has been identified that there are children as young as 10 engaged in serious violence.”

He told members that the children the service had dealt with had “adverse childhood experiences” and were “likely to take the wrong path.”

Mr Donegan said: “It is important to get to these young people at an impressionable age. Other services wouldn’t engage with these young people due to their age, but it was something we felt we could add value to.

“We worked with these young people to understand why they were behaving in the way they were.”

Reflecting on the success of the scheme he said: “We’ve been asked if we can deliver this to other schools.”