A MOTHER was horrified when she learned her ten-year-old daughter was threatened with a knife on her way to school.

The woman, from Southend, who will remain anonymous, said her daughter was cycling to school when she accidentally bumped into two teenage boys in Cecil Jones Academy uniform.

The girl apologised, but claims she was told by one of the boys “sorry isn’t good enough I’m going to stab you” and he then pulled out a small pen knife.

The girl quickly jumped back on her bike and continued to ride to school.

Her mother is calling for schools to do more to keep children safe and to ensure pupils aren’t carrying knives to school.

She added: “What’s scary is that I was more traumatised than my daughter. She was a bit shaken up but sadly she thinks it’s the norm that kids carry around knives.

“Cecil Jones needs to do much more to make sure kids aren’t able to bring knives into school. When I phoned them and spoke to staff, I was told ‘I’m not quite sure what you want me to do?’.”

“Cecil Jones urgently need to address these issues as so many of the kids who go there are out of control.”

A spokesperson for Cecil Jones said they couldn’t comment on individual incidents, but highlighted the incident didn’t take place on school grounds. They added: “We work hard to tackle incidents of challenging or difficult behaviour but it must be stressed that most schools in the UK deal with these type of incidents from time to time. Cecil Jones is not alone in this regard.

“Cecil Jones Academy has a robust, embedded process in place to ensure any examples of poor behaviour are dealt with.

“We ensure young people are given appropriate sanctions and we engage with all parents if any issues arise to ensure issues are tackled both in the academy and at home.

“In situations where the police are involved – which happen in schools from time to time – we work closely with officers to ensure appropriate action is taken while at the same time engaging with children and families to tackle any issues identified. We are confident the academy does everything possible in terms of managing challenging behaviour.”