\n<\/p>\n
The family of a 15-year-old boy who was stabbed to death at school by another pupil has said her son\u2019s murder was \u201csenseless and avoidable\u201d and that a report ordered by the school showed too many \u201cred flags\u201d were missed.<\/p>\n
Harvey Willgoose died one year ago to the day, and his killer, Mohammed Umar Khan, is serving a minimum term of 16 years\u2019 detention. A report commissioned by the trust that runs Harvey\u2019s school, All Saints Catholic high school in Sheffield, has highlighted a number of missed opportunities in the run-up to the murder. The review was undertaken by a former school headteacher and inspector of schools at Learn Sheffield.<\/p>\n
Caroline Willgoose told of her family\u2019s anger and pain over failures at the school.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cI\u2019ll always be angry by what happened to Harvey, but more than anything, I\u2019m determined to unite people, bring changes for the better.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m determined that no other family should be sitting in court listening to how their child was killed, have to read a report that lays bare how their child could have been protected. I want to use my voice for Harvey\u2019s memory to push for real change.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/span>Mohammed Umar Khan. <\/span> Photograph: South Yorkshire Police\/PA Media<\/p>\n There needed, she said, to be better record-keeping and training in schools nationally.<\/p>\n The family have called the report \u201cdamning\u201d and said it should be published in full so other schools can learn from mistakes that were made.<\/p>\n Yogi Amin, the head of public law and human rights at Irwin Mitchell, which represents Harvey\u2019s family, said the review had identified \u201cweaknesses in leadership\u201d, failure to implement national policy and \u201cserious shortcomings in record-keeping that meant weapons-related concerns and escalating behaviours were not acted upon effectively\u201d.<\/p>\n He added: \u201cThe catalogue of errors makes for deeply troubling reading and just adds to the hurt and pain Harvey\u2019s family have had to endure following his totally unnecessary death.\u201d<\/p>\n The report, Amin said, revealed that safeguarding and behaviour records were not requested or reviewed before Khan\u2019s move to All Saints was agreed. When he did transfer, the records were not read due to unclear responsibility.<\/p>\n <\/span>Harvey Willgoose\u2019s parents, Mark and Caroline Willgoose, and his grandmother Maria Turner (right).<\/span> Photograph: Christopher Thomond\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Maria Turner, Harvey\u2019s grandmother, said \u201call the red flags were missed\u201d including one, she said, that identified 130 incidents in Khan\u2019s records which included \u201cviolence, weapons, gangs and anger \u2026 and the school did not seem to pick up on this\u201d.<\/p>\n Harvey\u2019s uncle Simon Turner said the 10 recommendations contained in the report should be seen as \u201cbasics\u201d in terms of safeguarding at a school. \u201cIt is just shameful that we\u2019re in this situation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Amin said: \u201cAll school leaders do need to pay attention to these recommendations and implement them in their schools. The gaps in policy, the failures in this school can equally apply to schools up and down the country. We\u2019ll be asking the coroner to review the report and consider the findings at an inquest.\u201d<\/p>\n Khan stabbed Harvey to death during the lunch break in front of other children who fled \u201cin fear and panic\u201d. Some ran to a nearby storage cupboard, which they locked and barricaded.<\/p>\n Caroline Willgoose and her family are now campaigning for all schools to install knife arches to help prevent another stabbing.<\/p>\n The school trust has released the report\u2019s recommendations but said it was not being shared in full due to \u201cthe sensitive personal information it contains and privacy concerns\u201d.<\/p>\n One recommendation is that full safeguarding and behaviour records are shared between schools. Another calls for a review that clarifies \u201cthe roles, responsibilities and accountabilities of all posts at all levels in the behaviour and safeguarding structures\u201d.<\/p>\n Steve Davies, the chief executive of St Clare Catholic multi-academy trust, <\/strong>said: \u201cIt is clear that the report identifies areas for improvement, including in relation to our processes, information-sharing and training.<\/p>\n \u201cThe issues this report raises will also resonate more widely across the education sector. We hope the findings can contribute to a wider discussion about the support, guidance and frameworks schools need nationally to respond consistently and safely to the evolving safeguarding challenges affecting young people.\u201d<\/p>\n Caroline Willgoose said everyone who knew Harvey saw that he was \u201cfull of love and a cheeky, sociable kid who filled every room with energy.<\/p>\n \u201cHe had big dreams, he was always laughing, always bringing people together. Losing him has torn a big hole in our family which will never be replaced. Every day since Harvey was taken has been agony for us all.<\/p>\n \u201cI still hear his voice saying I love you before he left for school that morning.\u201d<\/p>\n She said: \u201cNo parent should outlive their child and certainly not because of something as senseless and avoidable as a knife being taken into school.<\/p>\n \u201cReading the findings in this report, it is devastating to see in black and white the chances they had to step in, the signs that were missed and how many opportunities that there were to protect our boy. It is something that nobody should be going through.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The family of a 15-year-old boy who was stabbed to death at school by another pupil has said her son\u2019s murder was \u201csenseless and avoidable\u201d and that a report ordered by the school showed too many \u201cred flags\u201d were missed. Harvey Willgoose died one year ago to the day, and his killer, Mohammed Umar Khan,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[2906,10603,4809,4192,1411,334,588,9224,22762],"class_list":{"0":"post-43567","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-family","9":"tag-flags","10":"tag-harvey","11":"tag-missed","12":"tag-red","13":"tag-school","14":"tag-schools","15":"tag-stabbing","16":"tag-willgooses"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/43568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}