Top grammar school Dane Court warned by police that pupil will be stabbed to death within 12 months

Police have warned a top grammar school that a pupil will be stabbed to death in the next 12 months as gang culture spreads to middle-class children.  

Andrew Fowler, headmaster of Dane Court in Broadstairs, Kent, is the first grammar school head to speak out about deadly gangs recruiting children in posh school uniforms to become drug mules. 

Gangs are targeting school children because they think their uniforms will attract less police attention.

Dane Court headmaster Andrew Fowler says he has been warned by police to expect a student to be stabbed to death within 12 months

Dane Court academy has been designated a specialist language school and an international baccalaureate world school

Dane Court academy has been designated a specialist language school and an international baccalaureate world school

The headteacher says he has not seen anything like this in 20 years of teaching

The headteacher says he has not seen anything like this in 20 years of teaching

Headteacher Andrew Fowler admitted the school is worried about at least 20 of the children, and added two or three are 'certainly gang members'

Headteacher Andrew Fowler admitted the school is worried about at least 20 of the children, and added two or three are ‘certainly gang members’

Gangs are targeting school children at the academy in Broadstairs, Kent, because they think police won't think to search children in smart school uniforms

Gangs are targeting school children at the academy in Broadstairs, Kent, because they think police won’t think to search children in smart school uniforms

‘We have been told by the police there will probably be a fatal child stabbing of a pupil within the next 12 months,’ Fowler told the Sunday Times.

‘There are about 20 students we are concerned about. There are two or three who are certainly gang members. 

The age at which they are getting involved is getting younger and younger and now there are students in years 8 and 9 [aged 12-14] we are concerned about.

‘I do not want to be labelled as the grammar school with the gang problem but it is really important we start to talk about this.

‘There have been gang-related arrests of our pupils outside school. 

Dane Court grammar

  • The school was officially founded in 1957 and was, until 1980, designated as a selective technical high school.
  • Dane Court became an academy on April 1, 2011.
  • It has around 1,200 pupils and is rated outstanding by Ofsted inspectors.
  • In 2010 much of the school was rebuilt into a single building, through a £20 million building programme as part of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) initiative. 
  • As well as an academy, Dane Court has been classed as an international baccalaureate world school and a specialist language college.

They have so much potential and their lives are being destroyed because they are being caught up in a situation not of their making.’ 

Mr Fowler, who used to work at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Penrith, Cumbria, said he had never come across anything similar in more than 20 years in teaching.    

The head explained gangs were target school age children at house or beach parties, approaching those going home on their own at the end of the night. 

After exchanging details on Snapchat, the messaging service, Gang members would turn up outside the school gates to continue grooming them.

Mr Fowler added that some of his pupils had been “initiated” by being persuaded to take part in a violent attack that was filmed, with the footage used to blackmail them. 



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