Lives Not Knives - A Knife Crime Awareness Project in Primary Schools
Knife Crime in London has surged by over 20% in the past year. It has grown year-on-year since the pandemic and many of these crimes involve youth.Since 2016 New Cross Gate Trust has been delivering a quality knife crime awareness project - Lives Not Knives - to year 6 children in local primary schools as part of their transitioning to and preparation for secondary school. It is a 2-day programme per Year 6 class. A double form entry school would have us in delivering Lives Not Knives for 4 days in total. This project came about after a local youth, Myron Yarde, known as Mdot, was fatally stabbed in 2016. Since then there have been many more fatal stabbings in the borough and across London. Our aim is to educate Year 6 children about the dangers of carrying knives , to understand the costs and consequences of carrying knives, equipping them with knowledge to help make good decisions and to stay safe. The challenge ideas and discredit ideas such as carrying a knife is protection. We integrate elements of first aid into the workshops giving all the children hands-on experience of dealing with a serious bleed.We want children to leave the 2-day course armed with facts about knife crime , able to support and advice their peers about knife crime and confidently able to deal with a serious bleed.The cost per school is £1440. We want to raise enough money to be able to deliver this project in 4 local primary schools this July. Can you help us to make a difference?Feedback on our Lives Not Knives - knife crime awareness workshops
The genuine nature of the trainers makes this difficult content 'real' to our children and focuses their minds in a way that the adults they see every day in school just can't do. The first aid content is not only enjoyable for the children but it is vital life saving information that is so often overlooked in workshops like this. The whole Year 6 team was blown away by the knowledge and understanding of the trainers and the skill in which they navigated the children through knife and gang awareness. We sincerely hope to see you again next year."
Robert Vinnicombe,
