Aberdeen City Council is expected to approve a raft of recommendations aimed at keeping weapons out of schools in the wake of the Bailey Gwynne tragedy.
Investigator Andrew Lowe led a review into the circumstances surrounding the death of the schoolboy at Cults Academy and made a number of recommendations to the council, police and the Scottish Government.
The 16-year-old was stabbed to death during a fight over a biscuit in a school hallway last October.
His teenage killer, who can’t be named for legal reasons, is serving nine years for culpable homicide.
Mr Lowe, a child protection expert, found in his review that Bailey’s death was “potentially avoidable” has his teachers known he carried a knife.
But he concluded: “This was an unplanned, spontaneous conflict that emerged rapidly out of an unexceptional banter.”
His review made a total of 21 recommendations including schools sending letters to first year pupils setting out “expectations” in terms of carrying weapons in class and training for pupils on the dangers of knives.
Next week the council’s education committee will be asked to approve the recommendations for the council and note the progress being made on their implementation.
Mr Lowe’s full report has not yet been published but the council have vowed it will become public.
Education convener Angela Taylor said she had “every faith” that officers would be able to implement the recommendations.
She added: “This was a tragic one-off incident and I would hope that the recommendations will prevent anything like it happening again.”
SNP group leader Stephen Flynn said: “It’s only right that the council does that to ensure safety in our schools.”
Ross Thomson, north-east MSP and a Conservative councillor for the city, said: “Unfortunately, we have heard nothing from SNP Ministers at Holyrood on this issue. We still do not know if they will support recommendations to tighten up laws around the online sale of weapons and to give teachers the power to search pupils.”
The Scottish Government has maintained that it is considering Mr Lowe’s recommendations to them.
A spokesman said: “We are carefully considering with stakeholders the recommendations made in the independent report on the death of Bailey Gwynne.
“In Scotland it is already illegal to sell knives or similar products with blades or points to anyone under the age of 18, and also illegal to sell cutlery and kitchen knives to those under 16.”
The long awaited report into the killing was due to be published last month.
But the 17,000-word document, complied from 45 hours worth of interviews, ended up being cut to an 11-page summary.
It was to establish the relationship between Bailey and his killer prior to the stabbing incident and to develop a detailed timeline showing the historical involvement of the killer with council services.
But this has still not been made public.
Aberdeen City Council said that due to the “sensitive, confidential and legally restricted information” officers will need the necessary permissions before the full report can be publicly released.
