Bradford teacher stabbed at Dixons Kings Academy
A teacher has been stabbed with a knife at a Bradford school and a pupil is being hunted by detectives.The male teacher, 50, was attacked at Dixons Kings Academy at 08:55 BST, police said.He has been taken to hospital where his condition has been described as stable.West Yorkshire Police are searching for a boy, 14, who ran from the school after the attack. He is described as Asian, with short dark hair and was wearing a blue uniform blazer.Speaking at a press conference at the school’s gates, executive principal Nick Weller said the “shocking” events were witnessed by a number of students and urged the boy to hand himself in.He said: “I think the best thing for him to do is to report to the police station because he will be caught and the sooner that he does that, probably the better for him.”The police said a “considerable” search was under way.Det Supt Simon Atkinson said: “We are conducting enquiries in the area to locate a suspect and I would like to reassure residents and staff that all necessary resources are being deployed to investigate this ongoing and clearly very serious incident.”‘Desperately sad’He added there was no ongoing risk to pupils or staff at the school.In a statement, the school said it was continuing to operate as normal and staff were working with police.”Our main priority at the moment is the well-being of our student and staff community and reassuring our parents. All students are safe and calm and have responded with tremendous maturity during a very difficult time,” it added.Mr Weller said the knife was brought into school and security would be reviewed.”Obviously we will review everything we do, there are some things that happen that you can’t account for, that you can’t anticipate,” he said.The NASUWT union said the circumstances surrounding the attack would need to be examined.Ian Murch, from the Bradford branch of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), described the situation as “difficult.””This is desperately sad and quite shocking. It does raise issues about knives in school,” he said.Mr Murch said school stabbings were rare but it was the second incident of its kind in recent years, referring to the murder by a pupil of Ann Maguire at a school in Leeds, in April last year.Will Cornick, 16, was given a life sentence for killing Spanish teacher Mrs Maguire, at Corpus Christi Catholic College in Halton Moor.West Yorkshire MP Alec Shelbrooke told BBC Radio Leeds: “This should not be seen as reflection on the school, its leadership or staff.”Education secretary Nicky Morgan said she was being constantly updated on the situation.”Violence of any kind in schools is totally unacceptable,” she added.The school recently hit the headlines after its founder and principal Sajid Hussain Raza was charged with fraud relating to his involvement with Kings.He and two other members of staff – Shabana Hussain, 38, and Daud Khan, 43 – will stand trial in June 2016.
