Serious school incidents reporting set for debate at full council meeting
Councillors will address reporting concerns after knife incident at a local school.
The reporting of serious incidents at school is set to be a hot topic of discussion at next week’s reconvened full council meeting.
Councillors will debate the issue at next week’s Dumfries and Galloway full council gathering, which is taking place after December’s marathon meeting was cut short.
Despite discussing local issues for nearly eight hours last month, elected members only managed to get through half of their busy agenda.
That meant that a review of serious incidents at school was punted on until January, and will now be picked up at the rescheduled meeting next Monday morning.
Annandale North Councillor Carolyne Wilson tabled a motion on the issue as she was concerned around the process for reporting serious incidents at schools – particularly involving dangerous weapons.
The Labour Group leader demanded better communication from Dumfries and Galloway Council in response to major incidents at schools.
She spoke up after a teenager was allegedly found to be carrying a knife at a secondary school in the region in October this year.
Councillor Wilson said: “There was an incident at the school in October, but we only found out about this at the community council meeting on November 21 in a police report.
“There had been a school parent council meeting, and nothing was mentioned about this incident at that meeting.
“There was no lockdown of the school when this incident occurred, and I think there should have been.
“I’m now seeking clarity on the council’s policy around such serious incidents.”
The motion, which has been seconded by North West Dumfries Councillor Paula Stevenson, reads: “Serious incidents in schools are on the rise.
“A recent incident in one of our secondary schools involving a knife, which made the front page of the local paper but was not communicated to parents or ward members caused unnecessary distress and concern within the school community.
“Council agrees that a report should come forward to the next education, skills and community wellbeing committee detailing the policy, process and protocol that is in place should serious incidents occur in schools or a draft version for agreement if there is not one already in place.”
Education chiefs have responded in a council report, which is due to be tabled at the meeting.
Jim Brown, the council’s chief education officer, wrote: “In relation to a recent incident referenced within the notice of motion, the incident was managed by the head teacher and the duty officer in-line with the existing guidance set out within the school incident reporting form.
“In-line with the request from the notice of motion, if it is agreed, a report will be brought to the next education, skills and community wellbeing committee in February 2026 detailing the policy.”