Tewkesbury school stabbing: Boy arrested in attempted murder inquiry

Pupils were allowed to leave the school after being locked down for the morning

A teenage boy is being questioned on suspicion of the attempted murder of a teacher who was stabbed at a school.

The male teacher was taken to hospital with a single wound after being attacked at Tewkesbury Academy in Gloucestershire just after 09:00 BST.

Firearms officers arrested the suspect two hours later in Stoke Orchard, about three miles (4.8km) away, and a knife was seized.

The injured teacher was discharged from hospital on Monday evening.

Tewkesbury Academy has said it would reopen on Tuesday.

Gloucestershire police received a call from the ambulance service on Monday morning saying a teacher had been injured in a corridor at the school.

Officers said a "thorough" search was conducted after initial reports suggested the boy was still on the school's property.

"It was initially thought that the suspect had fled the scene and hidden himself within the school grounds," said Assistant Chief Constable Richard Ocone, of Gloucestershire Police.

"This search was both complex and meticulous in nature as we sought to ensure there were no further injured parties as well as seeking the arrest of the suspect," he added.

Two other schools also went into lockdown following the stabbing and further searches were conducted to make sure no-one else was hurt.

"Specialist resources including the National Police Air Service and plain-clothed officers were deployed to search the wider area," said ACC Ocone.

One teacher kept his pupils safe by sitting in front of a classroom door and barricaded it, said one parent.

Daniel said his daughter video called him and he could see her teacher "supporting the whole class".

"The teacher sat right by the door. He barricaded the door, put some boxes there and kept everyone cool even though he must have been scared himself," he added.

Michelle, whose 13-year-old son Alex is in Year 8, said she was very relieved to be able to collect him from school.

"You get the message from school to say it has been locked down and it says urgent," she said.

"Then you hear that a teacher has been stabbed and the children are all locked down. The first instinct is to get to the school as quickly as you can, which I didn't do, and I listened to the school and stayed away as long as I possibly could."

Michelle said the teacher involved was "very popular" with parents and pupils alike.

Emergency services were seen outside Alderman Knight school, which shares the same site

Police said they were keeping an "open mind" about a possible motive and more patrols would be seen in the area.

"At this time there is no evidence to suggest it is terrorism related. However, we are keeping an open mind while further enquiries are carried out," said ACC Ocone.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said she was "deeply concerned" by the stabbing.

"We are closely monitoring the situation and remain hugely grateful to the emergency services who are currently on the scene," added Ms Keegan.

"My department is on hand to support the school as the situation unfolds."

Martyn and Julia, parents of Year 7 student Katie, said the school and police had kept them informed.

"The school was communicating throughout the morning. The students were allowed to turn their phones on, which we were most grateful for."

Julia said: "Hearing about it this morning felt very strange - it doesn't happen here. I know it sounds a cliche and you see it happening on the news in other places."

Erica, who has a child at Tewkesbury Academy, said she was happy that the incident was resolved quickly.

"It is worrying that these things can happen in any school and all the more important that as parents we take responsibility for teaching our children awareness of the destructive nature of this type of incident," she said.

Parents said the police and school had kept them informed

Richard Stanley, leader of Tewkesbury Borough Council, said it had been a difficult day for the community.

"Tewkesbury is a very safe place, it's a small community and I don't think there's a particular issue here. It's a national issue in terms of young people carrying knives."

Laurence Robertson, Conservative MP for the town, said he planned to meet with the education secretary and the home secretary to discuss knife crime.

"The government has taken certain steps to bring it [knife crime] back under control, but I would be the first to say that much more needs to be done," he told BBC Points West.

Following the incident, The National Education Union (NEU) tweeted that its thoughts were with all staff, pupils and parents involved.

"This is a shocking incident. Violence has no place in our schools and colleges," it said.

ACC Ocone said: "This was clearly a very distressing incident and our thoughts are with the victim, their family and everyone impacted by what happened.

"We are working with the school and other agencies to ensure appropriate support is available and local people will see more police in the area over the coming days as the investigation continues."