Knife Crime Workshops for Schools
Interactive Knife Crime Workshops to equip your students with skills and strategies to stay safe.
Over the last 10 years there has been an 81% increase in police recorded offences involving a knife or sharp instrument.
Furthermore, young people and teenagers are now twice as likely to be a victim of knife crime than they were 10 years ago.*
What can be done to stop knife crime and keep young people safe?
To support schools with this challenge, OpenView Education provides interactive Knife Crime Awareness Workshops.
This is an early intervention programme, designed for students in KS2 and KS3, enabling schools to tackle this challenging topic in an interactive, engaging way, specifically designed for the age of your students.
Your students will learn:
- How to manage peer pressure and make safer, more informed decisions.
- What a gang is, and how a gang may recruit differently depending on gender.
- That most young people do not carry knives, and it may be less common than they think.
- How to keep themselves and others safe and when a situation may pose a risk.
- The consequences of knife crime.
- How to identify healthy friendships.
- Where to go for help and how to access community support services.
*Office for National Statistics.
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INTERACTIVE
Our workshops use role-play, helping students to learn new skills in an interactive way.
AGE APPROPRIATE
We don’t use scare tactics.
Our workshops are suitable for the age of your students, with a positive approach.
LESSON PLANS
Your visit includes lesson plans, animations and PowerPoints making follow up easy for your teachers.
EXCELLENT VALUE
We understand value for money is important for schools. We offer affordable whole school events.
Key Stage 2 - Key Stage 3
Age Appropriate & Positive
All our facilitators hold Enhanced DBS checks.
How the Positive Choices for Life Programme Works
1. Live Learning Experience (Assembly)
Start your day with the Positive Choices for Life Live Learning Experience, a powerful early intervention session designed for Key Stage 2 students. This assembly explores knife crime awareness, gang culture, and positive relationships in an age-appropriate way.
Using a combination of animations and a live character monologue delivered by a professional performer, your pupils will meet a young person called Cameron and follow his story.
Through interactive challenges, students will help Cameron recognise peer pressure and explore how to access support and make safer, positive choices, even in difficult situations.
2. Follow-on Workshops
After the assembly, students take part in follow-on class workshops to explore the themes raised in more depth.
These workshops help pupils:
- Understand the law around knife crime and why it’s never okay to carry a knife
- Recognise signs of peer pressure and know how to respond
- Practise how to respond to peer pressure in a confident way through role-play activities
The assembly and workshops equip your students essential tools to stay safe.
Upper Key Stage 2 - Key Stage 3
Age Appropriate & Positive
All our facilitators hold Enhanced DBS checks.
What will my students learn?
Your students will learn:
- How to manage peer pressure and make safer, more informed decisions.
- What a gang is, and how a gang may recruit differently depending on gender.
- That most young people do not carry knives, and it may be less common than they think.
- How to keep themselves and others safe and when a situation may pose a risk.
- The consequences of knife crime.
- How to identify healthy friendships.
- Where to go for help and how to access community support services.
The Details
- Each Assembly is 45 minutes.
- Each Workshop is 45-60 minutes to suit your timetable.
- Assemblies cater for 120 students per session
- Workshops cater for 30 students per session.
- Workshops require a cleared space such as your school hall and use of a projector.
Empowering Pupils to Make Safer Choices
Following the delivery of our Knife Crime & Peer Pressure Programme with 120 participants at Mossbourne Parkside Academy in London, students demonstrated significant improvements in knowledge, confidence, and awareness:
98% of pupils had a clearer understanding of knife crime risks.
94% felt more confident saying no to peer pressure.
Cameron’s Story: One Choice, Two Possible Futures
Cameron is 12 years old. He has recently started spending time with a new group of friends.
At first, he’s happy to be part of the group, but over time, peer pressure begins to build, until one day, they ask him to carry a knife.
Fortunately for Cameron, he can see two paths ahead of him:
- One future where he chooses to carry the knife.
- One future where he chooses to say no to peer pressure.
Through the Positive Choices for Life programme, your pupils join Cameron at this crucial crossroads.
Through completing interactive challenges, they explore both futures and learn essential skills to stay safe and make positive choices.
Our Testimonials
‘I want to pass on my huge gratitude for the amazing workshops delivered over three days at Putney high school. The response was amazing.
Your patience, delivery and professionalism shone through and there’s been so much positive feedback. You started a very important conversation in the school.’
‘Our facilitator was absolutely amazing! Extremely interactive and engaging with the pupils. The session was very ‘active’ with short bursts of activities going on throughout, as well as crucial information being shared with the students. So, it was not boring and the pupils were not talked at for the whole hour!
Our facilitator was also very confident, and her behaviour management was exceptional. She retained the pupil’s attention at all times and overall, it was an extremely successful session. I hope to work with your company again in the near future.‘
‘The workshops helped make an important common issue in schools more relatable and engaging to students.
It helps students to understand they have the power to stop bullying. The constant interaction and probing questions really challenged the students’ perceptions.
You were charismatic and engaging from the first moment and you held the audience captive throughout.’
‘The facilitators had great knowledge and expertise, very up-to-date information, and were adaptable to our school needs. They had brilliant teaching strategies to engage children in listening/active learning/discussion.
Positive and warm with the children, managed children well.
It was all brilliant and staff, pupils and parents were all impressed and said how beneficial the sessions were – they really enjoyed the sessions and all learnt so much.
Thank you for your flexibility, positivity and expertise. It was an excellent day and I’m sure we’ll rebook the show and/or workshops again in the future.’
Get in touch…
Get in touch here and a friendly and experienced member of our team will respond with the best options for your school.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I talk to someone before booking?
Yes, we’re here to help create a fantastic event for your school.
Call us on 0207 459 4473 and a friendly member of our team will talk through the best options for your school.
How many presenters deliver the Knife Crime Workshops and Assembly?
One presenter delivers the sessions.
Is the Positive Choices for Life Knife Crime Assembly a Theatre Performance?
The Positive Choices Knife Crime Assembly is an interactive assembly that is designed to be delivered to
a large number of students at a time. It is not a theatre production.
How do students need to sit?
For the assembly, please sit students in Assembly Style Seating. This can be in a Theatre style Space, a Hall, or a Lecture Theatre.
Please also avoid exam style seating, and no desks are needed.
For the workshops, we usually set the seating in a horseshoe shape. This can be in a hall using standard benches or chairs.
How do I arrange payment?
To reserve your day, we will send you a simple booking form. Once this has been completed your date is booked in and secured for your school.
There is no need to arrange payment in advance. Around two weeks ahead of the visit, we will send an invoice to the designated finance contact at your school.
Payment is then due within 30 days from the day the invoice is sent.
Get Started
Send us a message here and a friendly member of our team will respond with best options for your school.