[polly]

I have to ask what was the other child doing out alone? I can understand that a 9 year old is permited to walk alone in daylight to grannies but why was the other child out alone?
Let's make the assumption that child 2 is out alone for hours on end just to get him out of parents way, is that really the type of parent that is going to sufficiently care enough to chastise him and point out that knife carrying is wrong?

As for giving teachers the right to hit children a good teacher does not need that right. I promise you I have walked into classes of delinquent 15 year olds and silenced them with a mere look, that is what good teachers do, physical punishment in school is not needed unless the teacher is a failure.
What is needed in schools nowadays is the ability for staff to exclude persistently troublesome pupils more easily. Forget exclusion Units which are often seen as holiday camps, just throw the kid before the cancer spreads. Yes the excluded kid then goes off and spends day after day getting into trouble, that is why, as I have said before, we need to get them away from their home enviroment where the problem started.

Now the law, we all know that is an a**, so maybe we need less law students and more common sense.