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Classroom sharpener ban
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By
SUN ONLINE REPORTER
A PRIMARY school has banned plastic pencil sharpeners after kids
smashed them to get the blades out.
Education bosses claimed the youngsters at Normanton Junior School,
Derby, were just “messing about”.
But it comes just four months after Sheffield schoolgirl Shanni
Naylor, 12, was left with horrific facial scars after being slashed
with what is thought to have been a pencil sharpener blade.
Schools boss Andrew Flack said there was “no indication”
that the children were using the sharp objects as weapons.
He said: “Some of the children had ground their heels into
the sharpeners and taken the blades. It was messing about.”
The plastic sharpeners were removed on health and safety grounds,
he added.
Headteacher Dorcas Jennings told the Derby Evening Telegraph the
incident was just “silly behaviour” and not sinister.
She said each class now had one desk sharpener, which pupils must
queue to use.
They may in future be handed metal sharpeners instead.
“We have talked to pupils about the incident and pointed
out the dangers,” said Mrs Jennings.
A 12-year-old girl appeared at Sheffield Crown Court yesterday
charged with wounding Shanni Naylor with intent.
The child, who cannot be named for legal reasons, will appear again
on March 17.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006090074,00.html
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