Up to four children a day caught with weapons in schools "It's a very difficult one to deal with, but where weapons are being brought into school premises you have to deal with that situation without question," he said. Where there is a problem, high security is necessary. But where there isn't an existing problem, we don't want to create a panic atmosphere. He went on: "It's essentially important for society to know that schools are safe and that's undoubtedly being corroded and we have to do something about it. When children are actually bringing in weapons, it's part of bullying but the situation becomes even more serious. Schools reflect what's going on in society, that's just a fact of life. That said, schools need to be safe and secure because the prime purpose of schooling is education. Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, added: "Unfortunately in recent years we have seen children carry weapons for fear of attack with no intention of using them and this may well account for many of these cases." The figures, released under the Freedom of Information Act, showed the equivalent of four weapons were being seized on every school day each year from primary and secondary schools across the UK. But the actual figure is likely to be even higher as no seizures from Britain's biggest force, the Metropolitan Police, were included in the data. Officers from the second largest force, West Midlands, seized almost 700 weapons from offenders including more than 460 children and teenagers aged 10 to 18 between 2007 and 2011. These included nine 10-year-olds among 269 children aged 14 or younger and a further 193 teenagers aged 15 to 18 who were caught with weapons. The long list of weapons seized included a machete, an axe, and a ball bearing gun, along with bottles, knuckle dusters and hammers. Of the 513 offenders who were arrested, 142 youths were given a reprimand while a further 115 youths were given warnings. Only 168 offenders were charged. Elsewhere, a Lee Enfield rifle was seized from a Gloucestershire school in May, a metal star was seized from a 15-year-old at a high school in Suffolk, a 10-year-old was caught with a 12-inch bread knife at a primary school in Cleveland, and a pitch fork was seized from a primary school in Fife. Other seizures included a piece of wood with a nail hammered through it, a starting pistol and a hammer. In Strathclyde, officers were called to deal with incidents involving knives and other weapons in schools on 295 occasions in the last five years, while the Leicestershire force was called to 138 weapons incidents in schools including attacks with screwdrivers, harassment with a fake gun, and even an assault with a plant pot. In total, the equivalent of 4,150 weapons were seized from schools across the UK over the last five years, some 830 a year or four on each of the 190 school days. The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) said schools should be free of weapons and "all children should be able to learn free from fear or violence." Temporary chief constable Jacqui Cheer, the Acpo lead on children and young people, said: "Carrying a weapon of any kind in school is not an issue for schools to deal with alone; police and partners will always be willing to work with a school to take appropriate action. Police involvement in schools, whether it be officers engaging with schools through delivering talks and interactive sessions or police officers based in schools under the safer schools partnerships, allows officers to educate children on why carrying weapons is unacceptable and the consequences they can expect if do choose to carry one. A Department for Education spokeswoman said: "The safety of pupils is paramount and clearly any kind of weapon or threatening behaviour has no place whatsoever in schools. "That is why we have strengthened schools" powers - for the first time ever teachers can now search a pupil without consent when they suspect they may be in possession of a weapon and staff continue to have the power to confiscate weapons on the spot. These figures must also be put into context - there are more than 24,000 schools in England and this appears to be a problem affecting a very small proportion of these.