Virtual reality headsets being used to teach children about knife crime

Children can take on two scenarios to highlight the dangers of gang culture and knife crime

Virtual reality technology is being used to teach schoolchildren about the dangers of gangs and knives.

Derby City Council has invested in hi-tech headsets to immerse youngsters in different scenarios involving knives and gangs.

Each scenario has more than 3,000 different outcomes.

A set of 16 headsets have been bought with Home Office funding to use in schools, after-school clubs and community groups.

After one of the first sessions at The Bemrose School in Derby, pupil Katherine, aged 14, said: "It did become a bit intimidating at the end of it. It feels a bit more real."

Fellow student Shegey, 14, said: "I'm lucky the police were able to stop all the carnage. Thankfully the police said I was innocent, but they needed to ask me some questions."

The course opens perceptions, says Jessica Melia

The virtual reality sessions are accompanied by a creative arts workshop, in which children can explore the issues raised in more depth.

Jessica Melia, from the dramatisations' creator Round Midnight, said: "The children don't play a character, they are themselves within it.

"We give them the beauty of hindsight, without ever having put them in danger. As much as they say it's intimidating and immersive.

"It is those things, but you never see a weapon. There's no violence - it's all about opening up conversation and changing perceptions."

Children can face thousands of outcomes from their actions

Headsets like the ones in use in Derby have been used elsewhere in the country, in cooperation with the police, but their use in the city is one of the first led by a local authority.

Councillor Hardyal Dhindsa, cabinet member for communities, said knife crime could happen anywhere.

He added: "It has happened in Derby. Not as much as in other areas, but we want to prevent people from getting into that situation."