'Mob rules' and 'prison riot' fights: Teachers at Gloucestershire school strike over safety fears following student attack

In 2023, Jamie Samson, a maths teacher at Tewkesbury academy, was attacked by a student wielding a six-inch blade.

The 15-year-old boy, who can’t be named for legal reasons, was sentenced to 14 months' detention.

Two and a half years later, teachers have told LBC they still fear for their safety.

Despite this harrowing incident, teachers in the school have not, they claim, seen robust safety measures put in place - and are staging a walkout in protest.

Colin, not his real name, described an incident last year in which a fight between two students “degenerated into what people have described as a kind of mob rules” or a “prison riot”.

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He told LBC about pupils “going on the rampage through the library - packs of students, swarming… swarming numbers of like, groups of students going through the library, going through the canteen”.

Colin says the incident was “downplayed” and teachers who tried to raise their concerns were “gaslit” by members of the senior leadership.

He also claims to have seen other students carrying knives in the school since the stabbing in 2023.

"There’s not an effective deterrent to sanction potentially dangerous students," he lamented, adding that staff fear another serious incident could occur without bolstered security.

LBC has investigated the reasons children take knives to schools, speaking to teachers and students across the country.

Sam Walter is headteacher at New Rush Hall School in Ilford, East London.

He said: “Kids have access to things that adults don’t even think exist. Kids are in their bedrooms for hours in the evening, kids are scrolling through TikTok, kids are seeing things on Snapchat, Instagram, social media [and] out in the community that they haven’t seen before.

“We’re going through a process now where violent behaviour is almost normalised in the minds of some young people. Kids are becoming desensitised to things that we would, once upon a time, have been completely shocked and blown away by.”

Another teacher at Tewkesbury Academy who we’ve called Lisa told LBC she's on the receiving end of daily torrents from unruly pupils.

“If you ask them to do something, they will say no. They will quite often swear at you in response. We had just last week, students that were supposed to be in a lesson running around a different block and spitting over balconies while swearing.

“We've seen teachers being deliberately kind of wound up by students and then filmed for their reaction.”

Lisa says the stabbing in 2023 was “a really, really scary and traumatic experience” which “stays very much in the forefront’ of teacher’s minds… a lot of staff feel unsafe, because (they) can see this behaviour escalating in students”.

She told LBC nobody wanted to walk out, but they’re asking for “the basics that should be happening in a school anyway… we want a school that our students and our staff are safe and happy and supported in and that should be every school in the country.”

Around 50 members of staff at Tewkesbury Academy first took strike action on the 4th of February 2026, causing significant disruption to pupil’s learning.

Ted Powell from the National Education Union says he expects between 40 and 50 members of staff from Tewkesbury Academy to take part in this latest three-day walkout, with more action planned next month.

“Members are more determined to say, right, we've got to fight to make this school a better place. And, you know, will keep striking until CLF actually sees sense.”

Powell told LBC the strikes can end when their concerns around the school’s behaviour policy, workload, and a lack of resources for the pastoral team are addressed.

Powell told LBC the demands, and strikes, are largely supported by parents of students at Tewkesbury Academy. “If you're standing on a picket line, you've got cars driving past, beeping their horns.

There is so much support out there because this school, it's a real part of the community. And they just feel at the moment it's not being run well enough for the students and the staff.”

A spokesperson for the Cabot Learning Federation, which runs Tewkesbury Academy, told LBC: “We do not recognise these descriptions of Tewkesbury Academy as an accurate portrayal of life within the school. Misinformation of this type has been circulated throughout this dispute, and it is deeply saddening to see dedicated school leaders targeted in this way.

“While we recognise there is, and will always be, work to do to ensure behaviour consistently meets our high expectations, we have already put in place a number of new measures. This includes significant investment in our Reset hub, where students with higher needs can learn in a dedicated space, reducing disruption in other classrooms.

“Negotiations with the unions remain live. We have presented an offer to the national NEU this week which we understand is acceptable to them – we now await the local union response. We remain hopeful that the dispute can now end and focus can return to developing Tewkesbury Academy as a safe, happy, and high-performing school where teachers can excel and all students are supported to achieve their full potential.”

In response to the safety concerns, the Department for Education told LBC: “Violence against pupils or teachers is completely unacceptable, and schools should never be left to deal with it alone.

"We inherited a behaviour problem - and we're fixing it - tackling issues early by opening a best start family hub in every area and rolling out 93 expert behaviour hubs to address problem behaviour before it takes hold. Our Relationships and Sex Education guidance also makes clear that poor behaviour has no place in or outside of school.

“More widely, the government is tackling knife crime by banning zombie-style knives and ninja swords, strengthening age verification for online knife sales, and rolling out schemes to prevent young people from being drawn into violent crime.”

Cameron Thomas, the Liberal Democrat MP for Tewkesbury has said he is involved in the process of trying to bring the strikes to an end.

“Since the initiation of strike action at Tewkesbury Academy, I have been clear with both parties and stakeholders that my primary concern is for affected children. That concern extends to those for whom examinations are imminent, those who attend the school and those who are perceived to be causing disruption.

“Following initial engagements with the SLT and Cabot Learning Foundation, and with the senior union representative, I have continually engaged with parents and concerned residents in Gloucestershire, and am working to explore opportunities through the House of Commons and Department for Education.

“It is imperative in the pursuit of a fair outcome that I do not use my platform to lend weight to either party to this dispute, though I am committed to supporting a swift resolution, and remain deeply concerned for the education and wellbeing of affected children in the immediacy of this dispute.”