Growing numbers of pupils are found carrying drugs and weapons every week at school, a report has revealed.

Schools in Brighton and Hove have seen a significant increase in pupils with knives and illegal drugs over the past seven years.

More than 100 city teachers were questioned after Brighton and Hove was chosen as one of 14 areas across the country for the study by Warwick University.

The study of 1,500 teachers by Dr Sean Neill suggested some schools faced severe problems.

Teachers said the trend was not restricted to gangs in large cities as provincial towns and rural areas also saw more youngsters arming themselves with weapons for "protection".

Nearly one in four teachers - 22.4 per cent - had to deal with pupils carrying weapons at least once a year.

The research also found "significantly more" teachers encountered pupils dealing illegal drugs than seven years ago, with 11 per cent of teachers encountering drugs daily or weekly.

The National Union of Teachers, which commissioned the study, said schools should be "weapon-free zones".

NUT general secretary Steve Sinnott said: "The idea of bringing knives or guns into schools is totally, utterly unacceptable.

"Senior leaders in all schools need to get that message across very clearly to every single youngster.

"Teachers and parents want all schools to be weapon-free zones. We have got to make sure we are doing that.

"What some youngsters are saying is that one of the reasons they carry a weapon is that they feel safer when they have got something to protect themselves with.

"We have got to get this message out - you do not make yourself safe by carrying a weapon, you make yourself more vulnerable."

The union warned the culture of drugs and weapons had spread beyond the well-known areas such as south London and Liverpool.

The research investigated selected local authorities chosen to be geographically and socially representative.

They were Barking, Bradford, Cardiff, Cornwall, Derby, Hull, North Yorkshire, Salford, Sandwell, Suffolk, Swindon and Wrexham as well as Brighton and Hove.

In the past two years there were 13 knife offences in Sussex schools.

The Government has said that schools should be able to install metal detectors at their gates to scan for weapons being carried by children. The scheme is aimed at inner-city areas, but there are no plans to introduce the scanners in Brighton and Hove.

Instead, schools want Sussex Police to educate children about the dangers and penalties of getting involved with knives.

Stuart McLaughlin, headteacher of Falmer High School in Moulsecoomb, Brighton, said knives were not a problem in his school in an interview with The Argus last month.

He said: "I guess if a school was having serious issues then they would have to safeguard everyone in the school and might have to go to metal detectors.

"We would use the police and exclusions to deal with it if the need arose. But in the last few years it has not been a big issue at all."

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